Parts of a flag: hoist, fly, canton and more (with diagram)

Flags have their own vocabulary, and most of it comes from flag poles, ships and heraldry. Once you know a dozen terms you can describe almost any flag in a sentence, and you’ll be able to read flag laws and design guides without guessing.

Here are the parts of a flag, laid out in a simple diagram, with real flags as examples. You can try each one out in the flag maker as you go.

Parts of a flag diagram

 pole
  |
  |+------------------+-------------------------------+
  ||                  |                               |
  ||      CANTON      |     upper fly                 |
  ||   (upper hoist)  |                               |
  ||                  |                               |
  |+------------------+          FIELD                |
  ||                                                  |
  ||   lower hoist          CHARGE        lower fly   |
  ||                        (symbol)                  |
  ||                                                  |
  |+--------------------------------------------------+
  |
  HOIST edge                                   FLY edge
  (next to the pole)                    (far from the pole)

The flag is shown from its front (obverse), with the pole on the left. That’s the standard way to draw a flag in Western tradition.

The main parts of a flag

Part	What it is	Example
Hoist	The edge or section next to the pole. Also means the flag’s height	Bangladesh’s red disc is set slightly toward the hoist
Fly	The edge or end farthest from the pole. Also used for the flag’s length	Swallowtail flags split at the fly
Field	The background, or main color	The red field of Switzerland’s flag
Canton	The upper corner next to the pole	The blue union of the US flag
Charge	A symbol placed on the field	Canada’s maple leaf
Fimbriation	A narrow line of contrasting color separating two areas	The yellow edging on Tanzania’s black diagonal
Obverse	The front of the flag, drawn with the hoist on the viewer’s left	Any flag in a reference book
Reverse	The back of the flag	What you see from the far side of the pole

Hoist

Flags of the World’s dictionary defines the hoist as the edge or section of a flag that lies next to the flagpole, and lists “the width of a flag” as another meaning. That second sense is why flag laws describe proportions as hoist to fly. The US flag’s official proportions in Executive Order 10834 are given as a hoist of 1.0 and a fly of 1.9.

The hoist side is where the flag attaches. On a printed or sewn flag, that’s where you’ll find a sleeve for the pole or a strip of fabric with grommets.

Fly

The fly is the opposite edge, the one that flaps. The Flags of the World FAQ glossary defines it as the edge or end of a flag furthest from the pole. Like hoist, the word also gets used for a measurement, the flag’s length.

The fly end takes the most wear. The North American Vexillological Association’s “Good Flag, Bad Flag” guide suggests keeping symbols away from it, so the flag can be hemmed as it frays and still look right.

Field

The field is the background. Flags of the World describes it as the whole background or predominant color of a flag. Some flags are almost all field. Switzerland’s is a white cross on a red field, and Japan’s is a red disc on a white field.

When a flag is split into stripes, each stripe is sometimes described as a field too, and a two-color flag is a bicolour.

Canton

The canton is the upper corner next to the pole. Flags of the World uses the term both for that corner and for a rectangle of different color or design placed there.

The best known canton is on the US flag. The law in 4 U.S. Code § 1 calls it the union and describes it as white stars in a blue field. NAVA calls the canton the point of honor, because it’s the part you can still see when a flag hangs limp on a windless day.

In a stricter sense, a flag can be divided into four quarters, and each one can be called a canton: upper hoist, upper fly, lower hoist and lower fly.

Charge

A charge is any emblem or design placed on the field. Flags of the World’s glossary calls it “an emblem, object, device, or design superimposed on the field(s) of a flag.” Canada’s red maple leaf, Japan’s sun disc and the wheel in the middle of India’s flag are all charges.

The term comes from heraldry, where symbols on a shield are also called charges. A coat of arms placed on a flag counts as a charge, though design guides like NAVA’s warn that detailed seals and arms rarely read well on cloth.

Fimbriation

Fimbriation is a narrow band of contrasting color that separates two areas. The Flags of the World dictionary defines it as a narrow line of contrasting color separating parts such as a band, cross, charge or canton from the field.

Tanzania’s flag shows it clearly. Flags of the World describes it as a black diagonal edged in yellow, with green at the hoist and blue at the fly. Without that yellow edging, the black band would run straight into the dark green and blue.

Fimbriation is a handy fix when two dark colors meet. It follows NAVA’s advice to separate dark colors with a light one.

Obverse and reverse

The obverse and reverse are the front and back. The Flags of the World dictionary defines the obverse as the more important side, which in Western tradition is always shown with the hoist on the viewer’s left. It also notes that in Arabic tradition, flags are generally shown with the hoist on the right. The Roman vexillum, a cloth hung from a crossbar, is where the word vexillology comes from.

On a single-layer printed flag, the reverse is a mirror image of the front. That’s fine for stripes and simple symbols but turns any text backwards, one reason NAVA advises against lettering. More on that in the custom flag printing guide.

Other terms you’ll meet

• Ensign: a flag flown by ships at sea.
• Pennant: a triangular or roughly triangular flag.
• Swallowtail: a flag that ends in two or three points at the fly.
• Tricolour: a flag of three bands in three colors, like Ireland’s or Italy’s.
• Saltire: a diagonal cross from corner to corner, as on Jamaica’s flag.

The glossary has the full list, and the FAQ has a short answer on what the parts of a flag are called.

Using the parts of a flag in Flag Maker

The editor is built around these same parts:

• The Layouts tab sets the field and its divisions. The Canton and Canton and stripes layouts put a block in the upper hoist corner.
• Click any part of the layout to recolor it, whether that’s a stripe, the field or the canton.
• Symbols and Shapes add charges. Drag them toward the hoist or the center, where they’re most visible.
• For fimbriation, add a slightly larger copy of a shape in a light color, then use layer order to put it behind the original. Duplicate makes this quick.
• The proportions menu sets the hoist to fly ratio. The flag ratios guide covers which one to use.