The square graduation cap, or ‘mortarboard’, has become a widely used symbol of academia and learning across the globe.

Instead of a tassel and button, two wide ribbons are attached to the cap from corner-to-corner, forming an X. The mourning cap is worn with mourning bands (normal bands but with a pleat running down each band) and a mourning gown which is either a Cambridge DD undress gown with "pudding-sleeves" but in black stuff rather than silk as worn in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries or a plain black stuff gown.They may also be plaited together to form a single cord, though the end of the threads are usually left untied.

It is a commonly repeated myth at Oxford that the cap must be held and may not be worn at all except at the student's graduation; however, there is no rule in the university to this effect, and undergraduates wearing formal academic dress may either carry the cap or wear it. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. The University of East Anglia, for example, features two hat designs created by designer Cecil Beaton. While the ways in which we observe graduation may change, the iconic four-cornered black hat will likely remain a sort of cultural shorthand for academic accomplishment—a symbol of celebration with roots going back to medieval Europe.In some graduation ceremonies caps have been dispensed with for men, being issued only to women, who do wear them indoors, or have been abandoned altogether. Nonetheless, tricorns can still be seen on the Registrar, as it is the official hat for this official. To enable personalised advertising (like interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies.