beauseant means the black and white standard (battle flag) of the Knights Templar. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.
Why “beauseant” is a great word
BEAUSEANT — [Noun] The black-and-white battle standard of the medieval Knights Templar. Its name stems from the Old French bauceant, baucent ("piebald, of two colors"), likely referring to the flag's colors; later altered in French to beauséant by folk etymology from beau ("beautiful") and séant ("becoming"). Unlike a communal "gonfalon" or a Roman "vexillum," the beauseant was the singular, dreadful emblem of a sworn monastic brotherhood. It was the heavy wool snapping in a desert wind, the stark partition of soot and ash against a sun-bleached sky, the fixed point of focus for a man whispering a prayer inside his helm—a symbol not merely carried, but believed.
Etymology
French beaucéant.
noun
- The black and white standard (battle flag) of the Knights Templar.“The air has been gay with waving plumes and resplendent beauseants; the streets of the Monumental City have echoed with the measured tramp of six thousand gallant Knights, gathered from all parts of the Union[…]”