A **vexilloid** is an object that functions like a flag but is not a flag in the strict sense of a cloth attached to a staff. Vexilloids include the carved standards of antiquity, the Roman *aquila* with its bronze eagle, totem poles and modern badges of office. The term was coined by Whitney Smith to describe the predecessors of the flag proper, which emerged in East Asia and the Islamic world during the first millennium.
**Example**: The Roman legionary *aquila*, a sculpted eagle on a pole, is the classic example of a vexilloid.
**See also**: [vexillology](/glossary/vexillology/), [standard](/glossary/standard/), [gonfalon](/glossary/gonfalon/), [finial](/glossary/finial/)