the.com/badge
a small piece of metal that asks you to trust the person wearing it
means a small emblem worn to show identity, membership, rank, or achievement.
from From Middle English 'bage' or 'bagge,' a heraldic term for the device worn by knights and their retainers to show whose side they were on. Its deeper roots are murky — Anglo-Latin 'bagia' floats around medieval records — but the word lived its early life on shields and sleeves, marking allegiance long before it pinned itself to police and scouts.
- origin
- From Latin via heraldry, marked knights' allegiances
- sheriff stars
- Five points once symbolized a lawman's authority
- merit badges
- Boy Scouts offer over 130 different ones
- radiation
- Workers wear film badges to track exposure dose
- honey
- Badge can mean a bee's pollen-loaded leg basket
boy scouts merit badge — over 140 different achievement badges awarded since 1911
police badge — identified officers like nypd shield #12345
congressional medal of honor — highest military decoration awarded by the u.s. congress
scout badge — girl scouts award approximately 50 different badges for achievement