bayonet

thumb| British infantryman in 1941 with a Pattern 1907 bayonet affixed to his [[Lee–Enfield rifle]] A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped melee weapon designed to be mounted on the end of the barrel of a rifle, carbine, musket or similar long firearm, allowing the gun to be utilized as a spear in close combat.

The term is derived from the town of Bayonne in southwestern France, where bayonets were supposedly first used by Basques in the 17th century. From the early 17th to the early 20th century, it was an infantry melee weapon used for both offensive and defensive tactics, usually when charging in mass formations (human wave attacks). In contemporary times, bayonets are considered a weapon of last resort and are rarely used in combat, although they are still used regularly for non-combat purposes such as military parades, crowd control and as utility knives.