A
melee weapon (from French, "mixed", referring to groups of fighters interlocked in close combat) is any
weapon that does not involve a projectile — that is, both the user and target of the weapon are in contact with it simultaneously in normal use. A weapon that fires a projectile, or is a projectile itself, is a
ranged weapon.
As such melee weapons do not include statically emplaced weapons, like a
boobytrap or
burning devices, but are carried by the troops. A
melee weapon is a type of "
cold weapon".
There are two basic divisions —
edged weapons, of which examples include
swords,
spears,
axes and
knives and
blunt weapons, such as
clubs and
maces.
The basic principle of edged weapons is to increase the user's pressure by concentrating force applied onto a smaller surface area, such as an edge or point, thus more easily penetrating the opponent's body to cause
wounds. Because most of the effectiveness of edged weapons depends upon breaking the skin of an opponent, they lose much of their usefulness when pitted against
armor.
Blunt weapons rely solely on mass and raw impact energy to disable opponents through broken
bones, internal
trauma or
concussions. Historically,
maces and
flails were developed and used to combat armored infantry, such as
knights, because of their ability to cause injuries even "through" plate armor, and were also very effective against flexible armor, such as
mail. However, blunt weapons are usually heavier than edged weapons, as the extra weight is needed to cause greater damage, especially through armor. This often makes blunt weapons more difficult to maneuver.
See also
Category:Blade weaponsCategory:Articles lacking sources (Erik9bot)de:Blankwaffemk:Оружје за блиска борбаpt:Arma brancapl:Broń białasl:Orožje za boj z bližine 
