emblem

Etymology

From Old French embleme, from Latin emblema (“raised ornaments on vessels, tessellated work, mosaic”), from Ancient Greek ἔμβλημα (émblēma, “an insertion”), from ἐμβάλλειν (embállein, “to put in, to lay on”). Doublet of emblema.

noun

1. A representative symbol, such as a trademark or logo.
   The medical trucks were emblazoned with the emblem of the Red Cross.
2. Something that represents a larger whole.
   The rampant poverty in the ethnic slums was just an emblem of the group's disenfranchisement by the society as a whole.
   Yes, there were instances of grandstanding and obsessive behaviour, but many were concealed at the time to help protect an aggressively peddled narrative of Pistorius the paragon, the emblem, the trailblazer. 21 October 2014, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities[…]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)
3. Inlay; inlaid or mosaic work; something ornamental inserted in a surface.
4. A picture accompanied with a motto, a set of verses, etc. intended as a moral lesson or meditation.
   An Emblem is but a ſilent Parable: 1718, Francis Quarles, Emblems, divine and moral ; together with Hieroglyphicks of the life of man

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To symbolize.