Daggers & Knives

Edged Weapons — Subcategory

Overview

The knife — a short single or double-edged cutting and thrusting blade — is the oldest and most universal of human tools and weapons. From the first knapped flint blade of the Stone Age to the combat knife carried by every modern soldier, knives and daggers have been universal constant across all cultures, all eras, and all social classes. Where swords were expensive prestige items, knives were carried by peasant and king alike.

The distinction between a knife (utility; one cutting edge; 7–30 cm) and a dagger (weapon; often double-edged; designed for thrusting; 15–50 cm) is cultural and contextual — many blades served both functions.

Major Historical Types

Stone Age Blades

• Knapped flint/obsidian blades — The first cutting tools; edges sharper than surgical steel; brittle; universal in the Paleolithic and Neolithic
• Clovis points — Fluted projectile points also used as knives

Bronze and Iron Age Daggers

• Copper dagger — Ötzi the Iceman (c. 3300 BCE) carried a flint-bladed knife with an ash handle; copper daggers were early prestige weapons
• Bronze dirk — Double-edged thrusting dagger; precursor to the sword
• Greek xiphos — Sometimes classified as a short sword; also functioned as a dagger
• Akinakes — Persian/Scythian short sword-dagger; 35–45 cm; worn at the hip

Medieval Daggers

• Rondel dagger — Stiff, narrow blade designed to penetrate gaps in plate armor; disc guards at pommel and cross-guard
• Misericorde ("mercy dagger") — Very thin, stiff blade; pushed through visor or armor joints to finish a downed knight
• Ballock dagger — Two rounded protrusions at the guard base; characteristic 14th–16th century form; civilians and soldiers alike
• Quillon dagger — Cross-hilted dagger matching the main gauche (left-hand parrying dagger)
• Main gauche — Left-hand parrying dagger; used with rapier in Renaissance sword-fighting; wide guard deflected opponent's blade

Renaissance and Early Modern

• Stiletto — Very thin, stiff blade; no cutting edge; purely thrusting; penetrated mail and gaps in plate; used as an assassin's weapon
• Dirk — Scottish Highland dagger; large single-edged blade; associated with Highland dress
• Cinquedea — Italian "five-finger" dagger; very wide, tapering blade; Renaissance Italy

Military Knives (Modern)

• Bowie knife — Large American fighting and utility knife; 9–15 inch clip-point blade; iconic frontier weapon
• Trench knife — WWI close-quarters weapons; knuckle-duster grip; double-edged blade (M1917, M1918); designed for silent trench raids
• Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife — Slender double-edged dagger; designed for WWII special forces; the defining WWII fighting knife
• Ka-Bar — US Marine Corps utility/fighting knife; 7-inch clip-point; carried from WWII through the present
• Gerber Mark II — Vietnam-era double-edged fighting knife; serrated spine; widely carried by US special forces

This article is a stub. Contributions covering specific daggers, knives, and their cultural contexts are welcome.