Roundel (heraldry) "pommes" is now more common. The term for a red roundel, "torteau", is typically pluralised in the French manner as "torteaux" rather than "torteaus", although "torteaus" is occasionally seen. A "pellet" may also be called an "ogress". In modern French blazonry, a roundel of either metal ("or" or "argent") is a "besant", and a roundel of any colour (dark tincture) is a "torteau", with the tincture specified. However, an alternate naming system has been used for the non-mental tinctures, with similar terms as English heraldry ("guse" for "gules", "heurte" for "azure", "ogoesse" for "sable", "somme", "volet" or "pomme" for "vert",
Tincture (heraldry) that is neither metal nor colour. Over time, several variations of ermine and vair have appeared, together with three additional furs typically encountered in continental heraldry, known as "plumeté", "papelonné", and "kürsch", the origins of which are more mysterious, but which probably began as variations of vair. Ermine is normally depicted as a white field powdered with black spots, known as "ermine spots", representing the ermine's black tail. The use of white instead of silver is normal, even when silver is available, since this is how the fur naturally appears; but occasionally silver is used to depict ermine. Traditionally, ermine