When I think of the word lozenge, two things come to mind: those soothing tablets for sore throats and Piet Mondrian’s artwork on tilted canvases. Surprisingly, it can also refer to a “charge in the shape of a diamond” in heraldry, all stemming from the original meaning of “rhombus.” The shapes in heraldry and art are diamond-shaped, just like the original cough drops. The term “lozenge” comes from Old French losenge, with an unknown origin. However, it is linked to words in other languages like Spanish losange, Catalan llosange, and Italian losanga, leading some etymologists to believe it may have originated from a pre-Indo-European Celtic word, possibly meaning “slab.” According to Google Ngrams, the usage of lozenge peaked in 1872 and has been on the decline since.
