What is the shape formed by the red, black, and yellow on Guyana's flag called?

The shape formed by the red, black, and yellow on Guyana’s flag is called the Golden Arrowhead. It is a large golden triangle pointing toward the flag’s fly, with a smaller red triangle and black edging layered over it.

The Golden Arrowhead became Guyana’s national flag on 26 May 1966, the day the country gained independence from the United Kingdom. American vexillologist Whitney Smith designed the original concept. The black and white borders were added later, following suggestions from the College of Arms in Britain.

The flag’s colors carry specific symbolic meanings. Green represents Guyana’s agriculture and forests, gold reflects mineral wealth, red expresses zeal and dynamism, black symbolizes endurance, and white represents rivers and water. Together, these colors connect the pointed design with Guyana’s natural resources, energy, and national identity.

A frequent mistake is to call the entire design a “Golden Triangle.” That describes only the central yellow shape and misses the flag’s official nickname. The canonical name is Golden Arrowhead, a reference to the arrow-like form created by the layered triangles.