Cleché

In heraldry, a cross (or other ordinary) cleché, or clechée, flares out at the tips in a shape resembling the handle of an old-fashioned key (French clé). The outstanding example is the Occitan cross, in the coat of arms of the counts of Toulouse: Gules, a cross cléchée, pommetty and voided Or. Because this cross is also voided (hollow), some writers have taken the term cléché either to be a synonym of voided or to include voiding as a defining feature.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Cleché". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Clausum – Coining (first ed.). James and John Knapton, et al. p. 233.