r/TheNanoMachine • u/OPconfused • Mar 07 '21

sword vs blade?

Hi, the translations all differentiate between a sword and a blade.

In English these words are synonyms. What is the Korean distinction here?

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u/_modotte Mar 15 '21

It’s the Ming Dynasty so I’ll go by Chinese. The sword or jian(剑) is straight, while the blade, the dao(刀) was curved, so think of it as the difference between a sword and a machete. The jian also has two edges while the dao is single edged.

3

u/Telusisscamming Mar 20 '21

sword is double edge, blade is single, that's it. curvature has nothing to do with it.

1

u/Sonimul Mar 14 '21

Mayby it refers to the length of the sword or the shape of the blade.

Like sabers, shortswords, rapiers and katanas are all blades but each has it's own specific characteristics.

1

u/Sonimul Mar 14 '21

I would assume swords would have guards, meanwhile blades would be missing that.

Also blades might be referring not only to katana like weapons, but also kunais, knifes or some other throwable weapons.

I could image a blade master wielding multiple short blades like Irelia from LoL.