Poleyn

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A plate of armor that shields and protects the knee joint in medieval or historical combat gear
2. An armored covering worn over the knee as part of a suit of plate mail or protection
3. A metal defense piece designed to guard the kneecap and surrounding area during armed combat

Etymology: The armour sense of this word came first. In Middle English, a "polein" was a piece of plate armour that protected the knee and was fastened to the thigh piece, and English records of it appear from about 1388. The term was borrowed from Anglo-Norman, where the same word meant knee armour. Its link to a shoe style is a puzzle rather than a settled fact. The Oxford English Dictionary connects the later English word "poulaine" to Anglo-Norman "poleine" and to Middle French "poulaine", a long pointed shoe toe that was said to be Polish in origin. That shared form suggests the two words are related, though the exact route between a knee guard and a pointed shoe is not fully explained. The word's form also points to a Polish name. Middle French "poulaine" is the feminine of "poulain", an adjective meaning Polish, and the shoes were named after this supposed Polish origin. Whether the armour term took its shape from that same source remains uncertain.

Synonyms: poley, poleyn