Word.ws English Dictionary

gonfalon

UK/ˈɡɒnf(ə)lən/US/ˈɡɑːn.fəˌlɑːn/

gonfalon noun: a standard or ensign, consisting of a pole with a crosspiece from which a banner is suspended, especially as used in church processions, but also for civic and military display. Also the alternative form of gonfanon.

gonfalon: a standard or ensign, consisting of a pole with a crosspiece from which a banner is suspended,...
Image: Luigi Chiesa, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

gonfalon (plural gonfalons)

  1. A standard or ensign, consisting of a pole with a crosspiece from which a banner is suspended, especially as used in church processions, but also for civic and military display.
    • Ten thousand thousand Ensignes high advanc'd,
      Standards, and Gonfalons twixt Van and Reare
      Streame in the Aire, and for distinction serve1667, John Milton, “Book CXXXVII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC...
    • Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
      Making a Giant hit into a double—
      Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
      “Tinker to Evers to Chance.”1910, July 12, Franklin Pierce Adams, poem “That Double Play Again” aka “Baseball's Sad Lexicon”, New York Evening Mail, page 6

Also used as

gonfalon is also the alternative form of gonfanon.

Forms of gonfalon

pluralgonfalons
alternative formgonfalone
alternative formgonfanon

Origin of gonfalon

From Middle English gonfalon, from Old French gonfalon, from Frankish *gunþifanō, from Proto-Germanic *gunþifanô.

Questions about gonfalon

What does gonfalon mean?
Gonfalon means a standard or ensign, consisting of a pole with a crosspiece from which a banner is suspended, especially as used in church processions, but also for civic and military display.
What part of speech is gonfalon?
Gonfalon is a noun.
How do you pronounce gonfalon?
Gonfalon is pronounced /ˈɡɒnf(ə)lən/ (UK).
What is the plural of gonfalon?
The plural of gonfalon is gonfalons.

Words near gonfalon in the dictionary

  1. gonesome
  2. gonest
  3. goney
  4. goneys
  5. gonezo
  6. gonfalon
  7. gonfalonier
  8. gonfalonierate
  9. gonfalonierates
  10. gonfaloniere
  11. gonfalonieres

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gonfalon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “gonfalon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gonfalon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.