the.com/roundel
A circle that means serious business, usually painted on a warplane.
means A small flat circular shape or design, often used as an identifying badge or decorative motif.
from From French 'rondelle,' a little round thing, itself from 'rond' meaning round — ultimately tracing back to Latin 'rotundus.' The word drifted into English in the medieval period and settled into a handy label for anything disc-shaped: a decorative panel, a heraldic circle, a slice of meat, or eventually the national-insignia circle painted on military aircraft to answer the urgent question 'friend or foe?'
- origin
- heraldry term for a circular charge on a shield
- military use
- RAF adopted it in 1915 to avoid friendly fire
- design logic
- concentric colors make instant nation recognition possible
- beyond planes
- also names round stained glass windows and coins