crossguard
cross·guard/ˈkɹɔsˌɡɑɹd/noun
crossguard is a noun meaning “A metal bar fixed between, and at right angles to, the blade and the handle of a sword or other bladed weapon that stops an opponent's similar weapon…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled C-R-O-S-S-G-U-A-R-D and has 2 syllables (cross·guard), and it appears about once in every 42 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of crossguard is crossguards.
What does crossguard mean?
noun
- 1
A metal bar fixed between, and at right angles to, the blade and the handle of a sword or other bladed weapon that stops an opponent's similar weapon from sliding along the blade and injuring the hand of the person wielding the sword.
Holonym: hilt
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce crossguard?
- UK /ˈkɹɒsɡɑːd/
- US /ˈkɹɔsˌɡɑɹd/
- US /ˈkɹɑs-/
Crossguard has 2 syllables, split cross·guard in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-crossguard.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of crossguard
- crossguards plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is crossguard?
Crossguard appears about once in every 42 million words in written English, the 199,120th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Crossguard in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense metal bar fixed between, and at right angles to, the blade and the handle of a s:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does crossguard come from?
From cross (adjective) + guard (noun).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).