What Does the Tryzub Mean? The History of Ukraine's Coat of Arms

If you've seen a gold trident on a blue shield on a flag, a soldier's patch or a t-shirt, you've seen the Tryzub (Тризуб), Ukraine's coat of arms. It's one of the oldest national symbols in Europe, and its story runs from medieval Kyiv to today.

What the Tryzub is

Tryzub simply means "trident" in Ukrainian (from try, three, and zub, tooth). Officially it's the small coat of arms of Ukraine: a gold trident on a blue shield. It appears on Ukrainian passports, coins, government buildings and military insignia, and it's the symbol Ukrainians around the world use to say "this is ours".

A thousand years old

The trident goes back to Kyivan Rus', the medieval state centred on Kyiv. The earliest firm evidence is on the seals of the Rurikid princes who ruled it. Volodymyr the Great, who ruled from 980 to 1015 and brought Christianity to Kyiv, stamped the trident on his gold and silver coins. It was also pressed into the bricks of the Church of the Tithes, Kyiv's first stone church, built in the 990s. His sons Sviatopolk and Yaroslav the Wise kept using it.

That's why Ukrainians often call it "the trident of Volodymyr". When the modern state chose its symbol, it chose one that tied it directly to Kyiv's medieval past.

What does it mean?

Nobody knows for certain, and historians have argued about it for over a century. The main theories are that it began as:

• a stylized falcon diving to strike;
• a princely tamga, a family mark of ownership like the ones used by steppe peoples;
• a weapon or tool, such as a trident, a bow or an anchor;
• a Christian symbol of the Holy Trinity.

Whatever it meant to Volodymyr, its meaning today is clear: Ukrainian statehood and independence.

From princes to a modern state

For centuries the trident mostly disappeared from use. It came back with the Ukrainian independence movement. In 1917 the historian Mykhailo Hrushevsky, who led Ukraine's revolutionary parliament, proposed it as the national emblem, and in 1918 the Ukrainian People's Republic adopted it. The artist Vasyl Krychevsky drew the design.

That republic didn't survive, and under Soviet rule Ukraine's official emblem was a hammer and sickle over a rising sun. The Tryzub lived on in the diaspora, including among Ukrainian-Canadians, on church banners, community halls and organization badges.

After Ukraine declared independence in August 1991, its parliament adopted the Tryzub as the state coat of arms on February 19, 1992. The colours are set by law: gold for the trident, blue for the shield, the same two colours as the flag.

The Tryzub today

Since 2014, and especially since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the Tryzub has become a symbol people wear. You'll see it embroidered on caps and shirts, on patches, on car stickers, and on flags at rallies from Kyiv to Calgary. For Ukrainians it's a sign of identity. For supporters around the world it's a simple way to say "I stand with Ukraine".

A few things worth knowing if you wear one:

• The classic colours are gold or yellow on blue, but you'll see it in every colour: white, black, red and military green are all common.
• The version with a cross or sword in the centre is used by particular organizations. The plain trident is the national symbol.

Wear it and give back

Most of what we make at Support-Ukraine.ca carries the Tryzub, from embroidered caps and toques to t-shirts and a simple blue and yellow sticker. 100% of our profits go to humanitarian aid for Ukraine, and every donation is listed on our Transparency page.