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Young Red Haired Girl With A Sword
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Single-edged and double-edged swords
The terms longsword, broad sword, great sword, and Gaelic claymore are used relative to the era under consideration, and each term designates a particular type of sword.
In most Asian countries, a sword (jian 劍, geom (검), ken/tsurugi (剣), pedang) is a double-edged straight-bladed weapon, while a knife or saber (dāo 刀, do (도), to/katana (刀), pisau, golok) refers to a single-edged object. In Sikh history, the sword is held in very high esteem. A single-edged sword is called a kirpan, and its double-edged counterpart a khanda or tega.
Europeans also frequently refer to their own single-edged weapons as swords—generically backswords, including sabers. Other terms include falchion, scimitar, cutlass, dussack, Messer or mortuary sword. Many of these refer to essentially identical weapons, and the varying names may relate to their use in different countries at different times. A machete as a tool resembles such a single-edged sword is used to cut through thick vegetation, and many of the terms describe battlefield weapons that originated as farmers' tools.
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