saltire

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saltire

/ˈsæl.taɪə/ UK
/ˈsɔːl-/ UK

Where it comes from

From Middle English sawtoure, from Old French sautoir (“stile, saltire”) (compare French sautoir (“saltire”)), from sauter (“to jump, to leap”) + -oir (subject forming nouns denoting physical objects from verbs), from Latin saltāre (“to dance, to jump”) + -orium, -oria.

noun saltires

An ordinary (geometric design) in the shape of an X. It usually occupies the entire field in which it is placed.
The Saint Andrew's cross, the flag of Scotland. But the World Cup winning veteran's left boot was awry again, the attempt sliced horribly wide of the left upright, and the saltires were waving aloft again a moment later when a long pass in the England midfield was picked off to almost offer up a breakaway try.
Similar: Saint Andrew's cross
The Saint Patrick's Cross, the pre 1922 flag of Ireland.

Similar: crux decussata

Thesaurus

noun

Similar: crux decussata

Translations

Every language

noun ordinary in the shape of a cross

Français	sautoir
Deutsch	Andreaskreuz, Schrägkreuz

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MLA

"saltire." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/saltire. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

saltire. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/saltire

Chicago

"saltire." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/saltire.

BibTeX

@misc{saltire_2026,
  title = {saltire},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/saltire},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}