Sword

Sword, an offensive weapon for cutting and thrusting, which consists of a metal blade with one edge or two edges and a point, or of a light pointed blade with one cutting edge, and a hilt or handle with a cross-piece or plate (the pommel) and sometimes with a hand-guard. The sword-blade is divided by writers on fencing into three parts - the forte (next the hilt), the middle, and the foible. Swords vary greatly in length, from the short sword of the Romans, which was little more than a dagger, to the heavy two-handed sword or claymore; and they are either straight or curved (such as sabres and scimitars). The thrusting swords without a cutting edge are rapiers and small-swords. The sword is an attribute of justice and of royalty.