Chamfron

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈt͡ʃam.fɹən/

Definitions

1. An armor component designed to protect the foremost part of a horse's head while also serving a decorative purpose in traditional horse gear
2. A metal or leather covering fixed to the front of a horse's head to shield it in battle or ceremonial occasions
3. A defensive piece of equipment placed on the horse’s forehead that safeguards it from injury and sometimes makes an ornamental statement

Etymology: The armour piece is named for a bit of horse tack. Old French "chanfrain" is generally understood to combine "champ", meaning "field" or "battlefield", with "frein", meaning "bit", the metal mouthpiece that sits between a horse's teeth. The pairing reads oddly until you picture the equipment: the chamfron was a plate fixed to the front of a warhorse's head, and the name points to the bridle and bit area it covered, a battlefield mount's most exposed front. The word is a compound rather than a figurative coinage. Its two parts stay visible in the original French, so the name describes where the armour sat and what it guarded, not any quality of the plate itself. Most of the earliest English uses are in discussions of medieval and early modern armour, where the term was borrowed alongside other equestrian vocabulary from French.

Synonyms: faceplate, front armor