A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip. A slashing sword is more likely to be curved and to have a sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade. Many swords are designed for both thrusting and slashing. The precise definition of a sword varies by historical epoch and geographic region.
The hilt is the handle of a knife, dagger, sword, or bayonet, consisting of a guard, grip, and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pommel.
A longsword is a type of European sword characterized as having a cruciform hilt with a grip for primarily two-handed use, a straight double-edged blade of around 80 to 110 cm, and weighing approximately 2 to 3 kg.
A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout Star Wars. A typical lightsaber is shown as a luminous laser sword about 3 feet (0.91 m) in length emitted from a metal hilt around 10.5 inches (27 cm) in length. First introduced in the original Star Wars film, it has since appeared in most Star Wars films, with at least one lightsaber duel occurring in each installment of the "Skywalker saga". The lightsaber's distinct appearance was created using rotoscoping for the original films, and with digital effects for the prequel and sequel trilogies.
The jian is a double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China. The first Chinese sources that mention the jian date to the 7th century BCE, during the Spring and Autumn period; one of the earliest specimens being the Sword of Goujian. Historical one-handed versions have blades varying from 45 to 80 centimeters in length. The weight of an average sword of 70-centimetre (28-inch) blade-length would be in a range of approximately 700 to 900 grams. There are also larger two-handed versions used for training by many styles of Chinese martial arts.
The kampilan is a type of single-edged sword, traditionally used by various ethnic groups in the Philippine archipelago. It has a distinct profile, with the tapered blade being much broader and thinner at the point than at its base, sometimes with a protruding spikelet along the flat side of the tip. The design of the pommel varies between ethnic groups, but it usually depicts either a buaya (crocodile), a bakunawa, a kalaw (hornbill), or a kakatua (cockatoo)..
The nagamaki is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (nihontō) with an extra long handle, used by the samurai class of feudal Japan.
A messer is a single-edged sword of the 15th and 16th century, characterised by knife-like hilt construction methods.
The talwar, also spelled talwaar and tulwar, is a type of curved sword or sabre from the Indian subcontinent.
The pulwar or pulouar (پلوار) is a single-handed curved sword originating in Afghanistan.
In mythology, legend or fiction, a magic sword is a sword with magical powers or other supernatural qualities. Renowned swords appear in the folklore of every nation that used swords.
The patta is a sword, originating from the Indian subcontinent, with a gauntlet integrated as a handguard. Often referred to in its native Marathi as a dandpatta, it is commonly called a gauntlet-sword in English.
The shashka or shasqua is a kind of North Caucasian sabre; a single-edged, single-handed, and guardless backsword. The comparatively subtle curve of a shashka blade puts the weapon midway between a typically curved sabre and a straight sword, effective for both cutting and thrusting.
A kalis is a type of Philippine sword. The kalis has a double-edged blade, which is commonly straight from the tip but wavy near the handle. Kalis exists in several variants, either with a fully straight or fully wavy blade. It is similar to the Javanese keris, but differs in that the kalis is a sword, not a dagger. It is much larger than the keris and has a straight or slightly curved hilt, making it a primarily heavy slashing weapon.
The khanda is a double-edge straight sword originating from the Indian subcontinent. The Rajput warrior clans venerated the khanda as a weapon of great prestige. It is often featured in religious iconography, theatre and art depicting the ancient history of India. It is a common weapon in Indian martial arts. Khanda often appears in the Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Hindu scriptures and art.
A claymore is either the Scottish variant of the late medieval two-handed sword or the Scottish variant of the basket-hilted sword. The former is characterised as having a cross hilt of forward-sloping quillons with quatrefoil terminations and was in use from the 15th to 17th centuries.
A kastane or kasthane is a short traditional ceremonial or decorative single-edged Sri Lankan sword. The sword is featured in the Flag of Sri Lanka.
The tekpi is a pointed melee weapon from Southeast Asia. Known as tekpi in Malay, it is called chabang or cabang in Indonesian, siang tépi in Hokkien, and trisul in Thai. It consists of a pointed metal main prong, two shorter metal side prongs, a one-handed hilt, and a blunt metal pommel, giving it the appearance of a small trident of sorts. More than a weapon, the tekpi was also an important Hindu-Buddhist symbol. It is similar to the Okinawan sai.
Urumin is a naturally occurring 27-amino acid virucidal host defense peptide against the human influenza A virus. It was discovered and isolated from the skin of Hydrophylax bahuvistara, a species of frog found in South India, by a team of Emory University researchers. The team that discovered urumin tested the peptide against 8 different H1N1 and 4 different H3N2 viruses, as well as various other influenza viruses. The peptide specifically targets the evolutionarily conserved H1 hemagglutinin stalk region of H1-containing influenza A viruses. Additionally, urumin was active against drug-resistant influenza A viruses, that were resistant against oseltamivir, zanamivir and peramivir. While its mechanism of action is not fully understood, urumin seems to inhibit viral growth by physically destroying influenza A virions, and is able to protect naive mice from doses of influenza A infection as high as 2 times the LD50. Because of its specific targeting of the hemagglutinin stalk region of the influenza A virus, the mechanism of action of urumin is similar to that of antibodies induced in the body by universal influenza vaccines. Urumin was also tested for toxicity against erythrocytes and showed a TD50 of 2,450 μM and TI of 664.7, indicating a favorable toxicity profile against erythrocytes. As such, urumin may represent the basis for a potential first-line antiviral treatment against influenza A, particularly in the context of influenza outbreaks, although the discoverers of the peptide have stated that urumin is far from becoming an anti-flu drug. Urumin was named after Urumi, a sword used in Kalaripayattu, the martial art of Kerala, where it was discovered.
