Machetes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large, heavy knife with a broad blade, typically used for cutting through thick vegetation
2. A tool designed for agricultural tasks, such as clearing brush or harvesting crops
3. An implement used in various cultures for both practical and ceremonial purposes, often associated with farming and survival techniques

Etymology: "Machetes" is the plural of "machete," so its history is that of the singular noun. The knife's name comes from Spanish, where "machete" is a diminutive of "macho," a word meaning "sledgehammer." The Spanish word is thought to descend from Latin "mattea," a term for a club or hammer, which may itself be linked to "mactare," meaning to slaughter in sacrifice. The idea of a heavy, blunt striking tool runs through the family: the same root lies behind English "mace," the spiked club, and French "massue," a cudgel. The name was therefore built around the notion of a heavy blow rather than a sharp edge. Spanish speakers applied the diminutive to a smaller, lighter version of the hammer-like tool, and the blade's cutting work in dense growth took over the word. Old French "machier," meaning to crush or chew, is a cognate that shows how closely the sense of crushing and striking was tied to this group of words.

Synonyms: cleavers, cutlasses