Falchion

This article describes the medieval weapon. For the Finnish heavy metal band, see Falchion (band).

A falchion (/ˈfɔːltʃən/; Old French: fauchon; Latin: falx, "sickle") is a one-handed, single-edged sword of European origin, whose design is reminiscent of the Persian shamshir, the Chinese dadao, and modern machete. Falchions are found in different forms from around the 13th century up to and including the 16th century. In some versions the falchion looks rather like the weapon-seax and later the sabre, and in some versions the form is irregular or like a machete with a crossguard.