Edged and bladed weapons

 ( Weapons ) 

An edged weapon, or bladed weapon, is a hand-to-hand combat weapon with a cutting edge. Bladed weapons include , , knives, and . Edged weapons are used to cut, hack, or slash; some edged weapons (such as many kinds of swords) may also permit thrusting and stabbing. Edged weapons contrast with such as maces, and with pointed weapons such as .

Many edged agricultural tools such as , , , , , and , have been used as improvised weapons by peasantry, militia, or irregular forces – particularly as an expedient for self-defense.

Edged weapons and blades, as well as other , are associated with the premodern age but continue to be used in modern armies. Combat knives and knife bayonets are used for close combat or stealth operations and are issued as a secondary or sidearm. Modern bayonets are often intended to be used in a dual role as both a combat knife and knife bayonet. Improvised edged weapons were extensively used in trench warfare of the First World War; for example, an entrenching tool might be modified to take an edge and be used as a melee weapon.

• List of premodern combat weapons
• Lists of swords
• List of medieval weapons
• List of martial arts weapons

Beith, Ian H. (Capt.), Modern Battle Tactics: Address Delivered April 9, 1917, National Service (June 1917), pp. 325, 328

Brayley, Martin, Bayonets: An Illustrated History, Iola, WI: Krause Publications, , (2004), pp. 9-10, 83-85

Peterson, Harold L., Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World, Courier Dover Publications, , (2001), p. 80: "Right at the outset trench knives were introduced by both sides during World War I, so that the common soldier was once again equipped with a knife designed primarily for combat."