Glaives

A glaive is a European polearm weapon, consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole. It is similar to the Japanese naginata, the Chinese guandao and pudao, Russian sovnya and Siberian palma (ru). Typically, the blade of a glaive is around 45 centimetres (18 in) long, on the end of a pole 2 metres (7 ft) long, and the blade was affixed in a socket-shaft configuration similar to an axe head, rather than having a tang like a sword or naginata. Occasionally, glaive blades were created with a small hook on the reverse side to better catch riders. Such blades are called glaive-guisarmes.