A sword is a bladed weapon, consisting in its most fundamental design of a blade and a handle. The blade is usually of some metal ground to at least one sharp edge and often has a pointed tip for thrusting. The handle, called the hilt, can be made of many materials, but the material most common is wood covered by leather, fish skin or metal wiring. The basic intent and physics of swordsmanship is fairly constant, but the methods of using those physics vary widely from culture to culture. Most of the variations can be understood in terms of the differences in blade designs around the world.
Several different methods of swordmaking existed in ancient times. One of the most reputed is pattern welding. Over time new methods were developed all over the world.
Having seen use for about five millennia, swords began to lose their military uses in the late 18th century because of increasing availability and reliability of gunpowder weapons. Swords were still used, although increasingly limited to officers and ceremonial uniforms. Cavalry sabre charges still occurred as late as World War II during which Japanese and Pacific Islanders also occasionally used swords.
Claymore - either of two types of Scottish sword, one older and used as an anti-cavalry weapon, and a more modern blade, famous as the "basket-hilted" claymore. This blade lent its name to the modern Claymore anti-personnel mine.
Sabre - (saber) a sword with curved edge intended for slashing or chopping
Scimitar - a strongly curved short sword from the Middle East that became widely-known during the Islamic and Osmanic conquests along with the Yatagan, another Turkish style of sword
Several modern sports and martial arts have components based upon older principles of swordfighting. Among these are fencing, kendo, kenjutsu, escrima, aikido and some variants of kung fu.
Many swords in mythology, literature and history are named by their wielders or by the person who makes them.
A tool resembling the sword is called a machete (or, in Southern Africa, a panga) and is used to cut through thick vegetation. Indeed, the difference between a machete and a sword is mainly that of width and utilization, and several types of swords in history resemble the machete in construction, such as for example the scramasax, the dusack, and the falchion.
While a rigid classification is not feasible, the latter is usually referred to as a kind of chopping sword. The scramasax, usually lacking a cross-piece or any kind of guard, is more properly considered a war knife.
For a more comprehensive listing of swords types, see list of swords
The cutting part of a sword is the blade. In single-edged swords, the non-cutting edit is the back. The blade may also have grooves or fullers, also known as "blood grooves." The purpose of these fullers is not to act as gutters for blood (as was once thought), but to lighten the blade while allowing it to retain its strength, in the same manner as an "I" beam in construction.
The scabbard is the case that the sword is kept in when not in use.
The ricasso is the short section of blade between the base of the guard and the grip. The ricasso is not sharpened, which allows a finger to be wrapped around the guard for better control. On some large weapons, such as the GermanZweihander, or the CelticCreagh Mohr, the ricasso was covered with leather and might be gripped in one hand to make the weapon more easily wielded in close quarters combat.
The shoulder is the short section of blade between the hilt and the start of the sharpened portion of the blade. The maker's mark is normally to be found on the shoulder. On Japanese blades it is found on the tang under the handle.
The tang is the part of the blade extending from the top of the blade through the hilt and the grip. In a rat-tail tang the sword is held together by a nut screwed onto the tang above the pommel. It is one of the weakest types of tang. A "full" tang is the strongest type. In a full-tang sword, the tang is the same width as the sword blade. As the blade doesn't narrow where it joins the handle, it maintains all its strength.
The CoP (Center of Percussion), also known as the Sweet Spot, is the part of the blade that can deliver the strongest blow with the least vibration.
