couchant

American  

[kou-chuhnt] / ˈkaʊ tʃənt /

adjective

1. lying down; crouching.

2. Heraldry. (of an animal) represented as lying on its stomach with its hind legs and forelegs pointed forward.

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couchant British  

/ ˈkaʊtʃənt /

adjective

1. (usually postpositive) heraldry in a lying position

   a lion couchant

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Etymology

Origin of couchant

1400–50; late Middle English < Middle French, present participle of coucher to lay or lie. See couch, -ant

Example Sentences

Gen. Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac, “but if the couchant lion postpones his spring too long, people will begin wondering whether he is not a stuffed specimen after all.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

“What I want to see before I die,” Frederick Douglass wrote, “is a monument representing the negro, not couchant on his knees like a four-footed animal, but erect on his feet like a man.”

From Washington Post • Dec. 31, 2020

They are resigned to "perfidious Albion" in the traditional role of Justice, upholding Europe's balance of power�with the British Lion couchant on the fulcrum.

From Time Magazine Archive

Which is the proper symbol for the Tories, asked the Manchester Guardian, lion rampant or hen couchant?

From Time Magazine Archive

Les enterrements y sont presque gais; ils ont lieu le soir, au soleil couchant, quand les ombres sont déjà longues, avec des chants à mi-voix et un déploiement de couleurs voyantes.

From Rambles and Studies in Greece by Mahaffy, J. P.