Cutlass A cutlass is a short , broad sabre or slashing sword , with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge , and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket - shaped guard . It was a common naval weapon . Etymology . The word cutlass developed from a 17th - century English variation of " coutelas " , a 16th - century French word for a machete - like blade ( the modern French for " knife " , in general , is " couteau " ; the word was often spelt " cuttoe " in 17th and 18th century English ) . The French word is itself a corruption of the Italian " coltellaccio " , or " large knife " , derived ultimately from Latin " cultellus " meaning " small knife . " History and use . Although also used on land , the cutlass is best known as the sailor ' s weapon of choice . A naval side - arm , its popularity was likely due to the fact that it was not only robust enough to hack through heavy ropes , canvas , and wood , but short enough to use in relatively close quarters , such as during boarding actions , in the rigging , or below decks . Another advantage to the cutlass was its simplicity of use . Employing it effectively required less training than that required to master a rapier or small sword , and it was more effective as a close - combat weapon than a full - sized sword would be on a cramped ship . In times of peace the Ottoman Empire supplied no arms , and the Janissaries on service in the capital of Constantinople were armed only with clubs ; they were forbidden to carry any arms save a cutlass , known as a yatagan , the only exception being at the frontier posts . Owing to its versatility , the cutlass was as often an agricultural implement and tool as it was as a weapon ( cf . machete , to which the same comment applies ) , being used commonly in rain forest and sugarcane areas , such as the Caribbean and Central America . Woodsmen and soldiers in the 17th and 18th centuries used a similar short and broad backsword called a " hanger " , or in German a " messer " , meaning " knife " . Often occurring with the full tang more typical of knives than swords in Europe , which is commonly believed to reflect a legal claim to nonweapon status , these blades may ultimately derive through the falchion ( facon , falcon ) from the seax . In their most simplified form they are held to have become the machete of the Caribbean . Cutlasses are famous for being used by pirates , although there is no reason to believe that Caribbean buccaneer s invented them , as has sometimes been claimed . However , the subsequent use of cutlasses by pirates is well documented in contemporary sources , notably by the pirate crews of William Fly , William Kidd , and Stede Bonnet . French historian Alexandre Exquemelin reports the buccaneer Francois l ' Ollonais using a cutlass as early as 1667 . Pirates used these weapons for intimidation as much as for combat , often needing no more than to grip their hilts to induce a crew to surrender , or beating captives with the flat of the blade to force their compliance or responsiveness to interrogation . In 1936 the British Royal Navy announced that from then on cutlasses would be carried only for ceremonial duties and not used in landing parties . However the last recorded use of cutlasses by the Royal Navy was on 16 February 1940 during the boarding action known as the Altmark Incident . The cutlass remained an official weapon in United States Navy stores until 1949 , though seldom used in training after the early 1930s . The last new model of cutlass adopted by the U . S . Navy was the Model 1917 ; although cutlasses made during World War II were called the Model 1941 , they were only a slightly modified variant of the Model 1917 . A United States Marine Corps engineer NCO is reported to have killed an enemy with a Model 1941 cutlass at Incheon during the Korean War . A cutlass is still carried by the recruit designated as the Recruit Chief Petty Officer for each division at US Navy Recruit Training Command . In a message released March 31 , 2010 , the US Navy approved optional wear of a ceremonial cutlass as part of the Chief Petty Officer dress uniform , pending final design approval . That approval came in January 2011 , and the cutlass was made available for ceremonial wear by Chief Petty Officers in August of that year .