The following is a list of notable

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use de ...

s, either historical or modern. A dagger is a knife with a sharp point designed for fighting.

Ancient daggers

Acinaces The acinaces, also spelled akinakes ( Greek ) or akinaka (unattested Old Persian ''*akīnakah'', Sogdian ''kynʼk'') is a type of dagger or xiphos (short sword) used mainly in the first millennium BCE in the eastern Mediterranean Basin, especia ...

* Bronze Age dagger *

Parazonium A parazonium is a long triangular dagger, wide at the hilt end and coming to a point. In Roman mythology, it is frequently carried by Virtus, particularly in early representations. It is also sometimes carried by Mars, or Roma, or the emperor, givi ...

Pugio The ''pugio'' (; plural: ''pugiones'') was a dagger used by Roman soldiers as a sidearm. It seems likely that the ''pugio'' was intended as an auxiliary weapon, but its exact purpose for the soldier remains unknown. Officials of the empire took t ...

Sica The sica was a short sword or large dagger of ancient Illyrians, Thracians and Dacians, used in Ancient Rome too, originating in the Halstatt culture. It was originally depicted as a curved sword (see the Zliten mosaic as well as numerous oil ...

European tradition

;High Middle Ages: *

Knightly dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use de ...

;Late Middle Ages: *

Anelace An ''anelace'' (or in Middle English ''anelas'') was a medieval dagger worn as a gentleman's accoutrement in 14th century England. Frederick William Fairholt (1846) describes it as "a knife or dagger worn at the girdle", and George Russell Frenc ...

(14th century long English dagger, worn as an accoutrement) *

Baselard The baselard, ''Schwiizerdolch'' in Swiss-German (also ''basilard, baslard'', in Middle French also and variants, Latinized etc., in Middle High German ) is a historical type of dagger or short sword of the Late Middle Ages. Etymology In mod ...

(14th century long cutting dagger) *

Bollock dagger A bollock dagger or ballock knife is a type of dagger with a distinctively shaped hilt, with two oval swellings at the guard resembling male testes ("bollocks"). The guard is often in one piece with the wooden grip, and reinforced on top with ...

rondel dagger A rondel dagger or roundel dagger was a type of stiff-bladed dagger in Europe in the late Middle Ages (from the 14th century onwards), used by a variety of people from merchants to knights. It was worn at the waist and might be used as a util ...

ear dagger An ear dagger is a relatively rare and exotic form of dagger that was used during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. It is so named because the pommel of the dagger has a very distinctive shape, somewhat resembling a human ear. Ear daggers fr ...

(thrust oriented, by hilt shape) *

Poignard A poniard or ''poignard'' ( Fr.) is a long, lightweight thrusting knife with a continuously tapering, acutely pointed blade, and a cross-guard, historically worn by the upper class, noblemen, or members of the knighthood. Similar in design to a ...

;Renaissance *

Cinquedea The cinquedea or cinqueda is a civilian short sword (or long dagger). It was developed in northern Italy and enjoyed a period of popularity during the Italian renaissance of the 15th and early 16th centuries. The name ''cinquedea'' means "five f ...

(broad short sword) *

Misericorde (weapon) A misericorde ( or ) (from French word ''miséricorde'' 'mercy') was a long, narrow knife, used from the High Middle Ages to deliver the death stroke (the mercy stroke, hence the name of the blade, derived from the Latin ''misericordia'', "act o ...

* Stiletto (16th century but could be around the 14th) ;Modern *

Dirk A dirk is a long bladed thrusting dagger.Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), ''Dagger'', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729 Historically, it gained its name from the Highland Dirk (Scot ...

(Scotland) *

Hunting dagger The hunting dagger (German'': Hirschfänger'', "deer catcher") is a long German dagger, used to kill deer and boar. It was a weapon mainly used in the fancy hunts of the German nobility. This dagger developed from Medieval hunting sword A hunting ...

(18th-century Germany) *

Parrying dagger The parrying dagger is a category of small handheld weapons from the European late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. These weapons were used as off-hand weapons in conjunction with a single-handed sword such as a rapier. As the name implies ...

(17th- to 18th-century rapier fencing) *

Sgian-dubh The ( ; ) – also anglicized as skene – is a small, single-edged knife ( gd, sgian) worn as part of traditional Scottish Highland dress along with the kilt. Originally used for eating and preparing fruit, meat, and cutting bread and cheese, ...

(Scotland) *

Trench knife A trench knife is a combat knife designed to kill or incapacitate an enemy at close quarters, such as in a trench or other confined area.Peterson, Harold L., Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World, Courier Dover Publications, , (2001), ...

(WWI) *

Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife The Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife is a double-edged fighting knife resembling a dagger or poignard with a foil grip. It was developed by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes in Shanghai based on ideas that the two men had while se ...

(British Armed Forces, WW2) *

Puñal Puñal is a city in Santiago Province. Puñal became a rural section of the municipality of Santiago de los Caballeros Santiago de los Caballeros (; '' en, Saint James of the Knights''), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city ...

(Spain, Latin America) *

Push dagger A push dagger (alternately known as: punch dagger, punch knife, or push knife) is a short-bladed dagger with a "T" handle designed to be grasped and held in closed-fist hand, so that the blade protrudes from the front of the fist, either between ...

Asian tradition

African tradition

Jile The Jile, also known as a Gile in Afar language, in Somali known as Qolxad, is a type of dagger with a long curved blade used by the Somali and Afar people found in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea. Unique to the Horn of Africa, it is the ...

Billao A billao ( so, billaawe), also known as a belawa, is a horn-hilted Somali shortsword or long dagger depending on blade length. It served most notably as a close-quarters weapon in the Dervish State, at the turn of the 20th century. Features The ...

(Somali) * Seme

American tradition

Military issue or commercial designs, 1918 to present. *

BC-41 The BC-41 was a combined knuckleduster and dagger weapon used by the British Commandos during World War II for close combat and ambush situations. Although effective, it was eventually replaced by the Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife. See also ...

(WWII) * Cuchillo De Paracaidista (Argentine Paratroopers) *

Arkansas toothpick In modern terminology, the Arkansas toothpick is a heavy dagger with a pointed, straight blade. The knife can be used for thrusting and slashing. James Black, known for improving the Bowie knife, is credited with inventing the Arkansas toothpi ...

(19th-century US) *

Facón A facón is a fighting and utility knife widely used in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay as the principal tool and weapon of the gaucho of the South American pampas.Shackleford, Steven, ''Blade's Guide to Knives & Their Values'', (7th ed.), Iola, WI ...

(Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay) * Corvo (19th-century Chile) *

Gerber Mark II The Gerber Mark II is a fighting knife manufactured by Gerber Legendary Blades from 1966 to 2000, with an additional limited run of 1500 in 2002, and full production resuming as of July 2008. It was designed by retired United States Army Captain, ...

(1967) *

* United States Marine Raider stiletto (WWII) *

V-42 stiletto The V-42 stiletto was a fighting knife issued during World War II to the First Special Service Force (1st SSF or FSSF, also known as Devil's Brigade), a joint American/Canadian commando unit. Design and features Based on the Fairbairn–Sy ...

(WWII) *

"Yank" Levy Bert "Yank" Levy (October 5, 1897September 2, 1965) was a Canadian soldier, socialist, military instructor and author/pamphleteer of one of the first manuals on guerrilla warfare, which was widely circulated with more than a half million publis ...

fighting knife

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daggers Blade weapons * Lists of weapons