counterchange

 
Pronunciation: /ˈkaʊntətʃeɪn(d)ʒ/

verb

[with object] literary
  • chequer with contrasting colours: a sudden splendour counterchanged the level lake with diamond-plots of dark and bright
  • Heraldry interchange the tinctures of (a charge) with that of a divided field.

noun

[mass noun]
  • 1change that is equivalent in degree but opposite in effect to a previous change: to all change there must be counterchange
  • 2patterning in which a dark motif on a light ground alternates with the same motif light on a dark ground.

Origin:

late Middle English (as a heraldic term): from French contrechanger, from contre (expressing substitution) + changer 'to change'