scalping knife

English

Noun

scalping knife (plural scalping knives)

1. (dated, chiefly US) Any of a loosely defined class of ample-bellied knives that largely overlaps with other classes such as hunting knife, butcher knife, and bushcraft knife.

Usage notes

The name originated in the 18th century among European Americans with reference to an archetypal specter of American Indian menace, suggesting "the kind of knife an injun [sic] might use to scalp people", but the idea that scalping was done with purpose-built knives is more folktale than reality, and the name was more sales gimmick than precise nomenclature. Although the name of this class of knives is not always used with anti-Indian intent today, it falls into a category of usage in which the biased origin of the term is inextricable, which prompts many people to choose (voluntarily and advisedly) not to use it outside of consciously historical reference. For more on the complexity of such choices, see Wikipedia at squaw § History, § Efforts to rename placenames and terms, et seq.

Further reading

• “scalping knife”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.