A "wing chair" is an easy chair or club chair with "wings" mounted to the back of the chair typically but not always stretching down to the arm rest. The purpose of which was to enclose the head or torso areas of the body in order to provide comfortable protection from drafts, and to trap the heat from a fireplace in the area where the person would be sitting. Hence, in historic times these are often used near a fireplace. Currently most examples of wing chairs are fully upholstered with exposed wood legs, but, many of the oldest wing chair examples have an exposed frame with padded cushions at the seat, arm rests, back and sometimes wings.

Though there are many types of wing chairs there are two standard wing styles - the flat wing and the scroll wing. There are also bat wings and butterfly wings just to name a few. The length, depth, vertical position and shape of the wings may vary from chair to chair.

Some have applied the term "ear chair" to wing chairs but that is not correct. Although some wing chairs may have "ears" at the top of the wings where the wing ties into the back, "ears" (as typically known in furniture design and antique designations) are elements rarely found on a wing chair.