Nowy Cross

The heraldic term for a partition line or charge in which one or more curves interrupt a normally straight line (or lines), is termed nowy. (And now you knowy.)

Like many heraldic terms, 'nowy' is from a French word, noué, which in turn is from the Latin nodatus, meaning 'knotted', as in the knot of a tree. (The word 'node' has the same Latin root.)

In addition to the bulge seen in the cross on this page, a nowy is also the term for a sine wave, either concave or convex.

In engineering and architecture this convex shape is called a flaunch to describe portion of a structure, particularly in the context of a bearing surface or part of a machine where parts meet at an inclined angle.

And when the curve is concave it may be called (confusingly similar) flanch, though that latter term is more commonly used in heraldry, typically representing a crescent-like shape.

See also the Glory Cross.