Insignia

Insignia were symbols used by cultures to distinguish ranks, units, membership, affiliation, achievement, designation, or status.

For humanoids, rank insignia were generally worn on uniforms, and could be displayed by stripes (such as braid) on the sleeves or epaulet, or in the form of pins (like pips and lozenges), embroidered insignia, and patches. These, of course, differ between civilizations.

Rank insignia

Lists of rank insignia

• Cardassian ranks
  • Cardassian uniforms
• Bajoran ranks
  • Bajoran Militia uniforms
• Ferengi ranks
  • Ferengi uniforms
• Klingon ranks
  • Klingon Defense Force uniforms
• MACO ranks
  • MACO uniform and equipment
• Romulan ranks
  • Romulan uniforms
• Starfleet ranks
  • Starfleet uniforms
• Terran Empire ranks
  • Terran Empire uniforms
• Vulcan ranks
  • Vulcan uniforms

Types

Braid or stripes

"Like it or not, professor, as commander of the starship, I'm required…"
"To show your gold braid to everyone. You love it, don't you."

– Kirk and Robert Crater, 2266 ("The Man Trap")

"A beach to walk on. A few days, no braid on my shoulder."

– Kirk lamenting the restrictions of command, 2266 ("The Naked Time")

Braid (or stripes) were bands of fabric or metallic material designed to denote rank on a uniform. Officers of Earth's United States Navy wore rank stripes on sleeves and epaulets. That system was similar to insignia used in some eras of Starfleet history. (TOS: "The Man Trap", "The Naked Time"; DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")

The Earth Starfleet of the 22nd century used rank stripes on dress uniforms for officers and on the standard jackets of flag officers. The mirror universe's Terran Starfleet used stripes on the standard uniform epaulets for officers, and both the epaulets and sleeves for flag officers.

In the 2250s, Starfleet used stripes of braid for both officers and non-commissioned officers, on the sleeves of standard uniforms and on the epaulets of dress uniforms. By the 2260s, only officers above ensign wore sleeve rank stripes, and only on standard uniforms. The 2260s dress uniforms denoted rank by braid around the collar, again only for officers. In the 2270s, all officers wore rank stripes, either on the sleeves or epaulet, depending on the uniform.

Chevron and rocker

Chevrons and rockers were stripe insignia that were used in many of Earth's land, air, and naval forces to denote enlisted rank.

Epaulet

Epaulets were devices worn on the shoulder, quite frequently to denote rank or grade, or perhaps honor.

Lozenge

The lozenge was what was commonly referred to as a diamond. It was found in a deck of playing cards, and in the rank of a first sergeant.

Pip

Captain Picard's rank pips in 2375

Pips were the small metal pins worn to denote rank, particularly on 23rd and 24th century Starfleet uniforms. (DIS: "The Vulcan Hello", TNG: "Cause And Effect", "The Pegasus"; DS9: "The Adversary", "The Visitor", "Rules of Engagement"; VOY: "Thirty Days", "Unimatrix Zero")

Star

Stars, in the vernacular of rank insignia, were insignia, often used to denote flag officers. The United States military used groups of these insignia for generals and admirals. A similar approach was used by Starfleet, as flag officer epaulet insignia in the 2270s. (DS9: "The Search, Part I", "Paradise Lost")

The Star Trek Encyclopedia, 3rd ed., p. 211 refers to TNG-era flag ranks with the term "star", even though the insignia used are pips in a frame. It lists one- and two-star admiral, three-star admiral, four-star admiral, and five-star admiral as the meanings of various rank insignia, but the one- and five-star versions are never seen on screen.

External link

• Rank at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Insignia at Wikipedia