The term broadsword is used to refer to different types of swords, depending on when the term is used, and on what period is being talked about.

• During the 17th through 19th centuries, the term referred to contemporary European straight double-edged basket-hilted swords, like the Italian schiavona and the Scots claymore (a troublesome term in itself). Surviving examples of such swords are around 105 cm long (90 cm of which is blade) with a base blade width of 3.5 cm and a mass of about one kilogram.

• Later in this period, the term was applied to any broad-bladed military sword, including the sabre and the backsword, as opposed to the comparatively slimmer-bladed rapier, smallsword and épée; in the late 19th century, museum curators began to use the term retroactively to refer to the medieval arming sword, which remains the popular usage today.

• The Chinese Dao is sometimes erroniously translated as broadsword, although sabre is the correct translation.

• A weapon of Tibia.

European swords

Breitschwert