The yellow arches symbol in McDonald's corporate branding is commonly called the Golden Arches.
The term began with the restaurant architecture developed for McDonald's during the 1950s. The buildings used tall, curved arches as prominent roadside features, helping motorists identify the restaurants from a distance. Their bright color and distinctive shape made them useful as both architecture and advertising.
McDonald's later converted the two physical arches into a single stylized logo. Even after restaurant designs changed, the Golden Arches remained a central part of the company's visual identity. The phrase also became a shorthand for the McDonald's brand itself.
The Golden Arches should not be confused with the McDonald's wordmark, which spells out the company name, or with the restaurant's red-and-yellow sign backgrounds. The arches are the symbolic yellow form; the surrounding colors and lettering are separate elements of the identity system.