Peace sign meaning
The peace sign was designed by Gerald Holtom in 1958 for the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. It combines semaphore letters N and D inside a circle. It is not an ancient rune.
A designed mark, with an author, a day, and a brief.
The name. Semaphore N and D, for nuclear disarmament, inside a circle.
Where it comes from
Gerald Holtom drew it in 1958 for the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, for the march to Aldermaston. In semaphore, N is two flags in a downward V and D is one flag straight down. He combined them and circled the result. He also spoke of a figure with palms lowered in despair, and later hoped the same shape could be read with palms up. Both accounts are his. In the 1960s the sign widened from anti-nuclear protest to a general peace emblem.
Modern
Rare: we know who held the pen
Most entries in this cabinet are accretions. This one has a designer, a client, and a first procession. That is the reason it sits here — as a control case. When a mark has an author, “what it really means” can be answered with a name. The later widening is also real. Holtom did not own 1967.
Modern
The circle is not the sun wheel
It is tempting to file the sign with ancient solar crosses. The temptation is the enemy of this particular history. The circle is Holtom’s frame around two letters. Ancient cousin-shapes do not get to adopt it retroactively.
Near this
Sources
- Gerald Holtom, 1958, for the Aldermaston march and CND
- Semaphore N and D, Holtom’s own account
Named when the entry depends on a text, a date, or a standard. Catalog numbers are not invented.
Your margin
Private. It stays in this browser and never joins the canon.
symbol.wiki, edited as Sigilla. Last reviewed 2 October 2026. A reading of public tradition, not a ruling.