Jambeaux

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of protective armor designed to shield the legs from injury
2. A piece of leg armor that covers the shins and part of the lower legs for defense in battle
3. Historically, a protective covering for the legs, typically made of metal or leather, worn in combat situations

Etymology: "Jambeaux" is the plural of "jambeau," a piece of armour for the leg. The word came into Middle English as "iambeau(s)," borrowed from an Anglo-Norman form derived from Old French "jambe," meaning "leg." That French root is the same one behind the English "jamb," the side post of a doorway, so the two words share an ancestor even though one protects a body and the other frames a door. Old French had a close relative, "jambiere," which named the same kind of leg defence, and English speakers seem to have borrowed the idea and the sound of it through the Anglo-Norman route. Middle English also had "jamber," a related term, which shows how the family of words spread around the armour and the body it covered.