bezant

Etymology

From Middle English besaunt, from Old French bezant, nominative bezanz, from Latin byzantius (“of Byzantium”).

noun

  1. (history) A coin made of gold or silver, minted at Byzantium and used in currency throughout mediaeval Europe.
  2. (heraldry) A roundel or (that is, a golden circle), the heraldic representation of a gold coin.
    One and All is the motto of the County of Cornwall, used below the coat-of-arms, which is a shield embracing fifteen bezants, or golden roundels, on a black ground; …. 1941 December, “The Why and the Wherefore: Cornish names of G.W.R. locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 575

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