What is a Yatagan knife?

Author: Naomie Howell  |  Last update: Wednesday, September 10, 2025

The yatagan, yataghan, or ataghan (from Turkish yatağan), also called varsak, is a type of Ottoman knife or short sabre used from the mid-16th to late 19th century. The yatagan was extensively used in Ottoman Turkey and in areas under immediate Ottoman influence, such as the Balkans, Caucasus, and North Africa.

What was the yatagan used for?

Yatagans were commonplace in Turkey and the Balkans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and served as sidearms for the elite troops known as janissaries.

What is a Gyuto knife used for?

A gyuto knife is a traditional Japanese chef's knife used for working with vegetables, meat, and other general-purpose activities. Gyuto knives are dynamic utensils as they allow for chopping, slicing, disjointing, dicing, and julienning.

What is the meaning of Yatagan?

yat·​a·​ghan ˈya-tə-ˌgan. ˈya-ti-gən. Synonyms of yataghan. : a long knife or short saber that lacks a guard for the hand at the juncture of blade and hilt and that usually has a double curve to the edge and a nearly straight back.

What is a whaler knife?

Description: Whaling crews used mincing knives to cut the blubber strips into thin slices down to, but not through, the thick whale skin. This process increased the surface area of the blubber and helped it melt faster in the try-pots.

The Ottoman and Balkan yataghan sword/knife

What type of knife do Navy SEALs carry?

Ontario MK 3 Navy Knife

This one's a standard issue to the US Navy SEALs due to its reliability. It is known for its practicality and simplicity. This knife comes with a 6” 440A stainless-steel blade for various purposes.

What is a Viking knife called?

A seax (Old English pronunciation: [ˈsæɑks]; also sax, sæx, sex; invariant in plural, latinized sachsum) is a small sword, fighting knife or dagger typical of the Germanic peoples of the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages, especially the Saxons. The name comes from an Old English word for "knife".

What is the shape of the Yatagan blade?

The yatagan consists of a single-edged blade with a marked forward curve and a hilt formed of two grip plaques attached through the tang, the end of the hilt being shaped like large ears.

What is a synonym for Yatagan?

Recent Examples of Synonyms for yataghan. dagger. bayonet. stiletto. cutlass.

What is a kyber knife?

The Khyber knife is a long, single-edged sword with a wide base, tapering gradually to a sharp tip. It has a T-shaped spine.

What is a cowboy knife?

Their simple design consists of a sturdy metal handle and a locking blade that gives them supreme utility, ensuring they can handle any task thrown their way. A cowboy knife is a symbol of reliability, ease of use, and toughness – qualities desirable to anyone looking for an everyday pocket knife.

What knives does Gordon Ramsey use?

Ramsay likes Henckels knives. This is a German brand known for their toughness and bulky blades.

What is a Hori knife?

A hori-hori, sometimes referred to as a "soil knife" or a "weeding knife", is a heavy serrated multi-purpose steel blade for gardening jobs such as digging or cutting. The blade is sharp on both sides and comes to a semi-sharp point at the end. A hori-hori or weeding knife.

How long is a yatagan blade?

It is really a sword and not a short sword, the cutting edge is 34 inches and the total length is 40 inches, it has a very concave, Turkish ribbon blade with a T handle.

What is the largest sword used in combat?

The largest examples were likely either the Japanese Ōdachi, Scottish Claymore or German Zweihänder, all of which reportedly reached lengths of more than 2 m (6 ft 6 in) in combat use.

Was the Zweihander actually used?

The Zweihänder (German pronunciation: [t͡svaɪhɛndɐ], literally "two-hander"), also Doppelhänder ("double-hander"), Beidhänder ("both-hander"), Bihänder, or Bidenhänder, is a large two-handed sword that was used primarily during the 16th century.

What is a Yatagan sword?

The Yatagan, a type of Turkish sword (which indeed became known in other countries as the 'Turkish sword') used from the mid-16th to late 19th centuries, was decorated with the same degree of craftsmanship as used to ensure the strength and sharpness of its blade.

What is the word for a dueling sword?

Epee: a fencing weapon with triangular cross-section blade and a large bell guard; also a light dueling sword of similar design, popular in the mid-19th century; epee de terrain; dueling sword.

What's a fancy word for weapon?

accoutrements, armaments, artillery, equipment, firearms, guns, munitions, ordnance, panoply.

What is the zigzag sword called?

A flame-bladed sword or wave-bladed sword has a characteristically undulating style of blade. The wave in the blade is often considered to contribute a flame-like quality to the appearance of a sword. The dents on the blade can appear parallel or in a zig-zag manner.

How long is the Yataghan bayonet?

Blade 22.7 inches in length (57.7cm), the bayonet 28 inches overall (71.1cm), muzzle ring diameter 20mm.

What is the sword that looks like a scythe?

The scythe sword (Sensenschwert) was a type of single-edged sword of the German Renaissance, related to the Dussack.

What is a Celtic knife called?

Sgian-dubh. The sgian-dubh (/ˌskiːən ˈduː/ skee-ən-DOO; Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [s̪kʲənˈt̪u]) – also anglicized as skene-dhu – is a small, single-edged knife (Scottish Gaelic: sgian) worn as part of traditional Scottish Highland dress.

What is Loki's knife?

Loki's Blades are the weapons of choice, typically daggers, which were used by Loki and his Variants.

What is a shiv knife?

The word is prison slang for an improvised knife. The word generally applies to both stabbing and edged weapons. A shiv can be anything from a glass shard with fabric wrapped around one end to form a handle, to a razor blade stuck in the end of a toothbrush, to a simple toothbrush handle, filed to a sharp point.

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