Gauntlet (glove)

However, it wasn't until the 12th century that chain mail shirts with longer, narrower sleeves began to be worn, and these on occasion had chain mail mittens or "muffs" resembling fingerless gloves and with a pocket for the thumb (though some of these did have complete fingers as well).

The advantages of the demi-gaunt are that it allows better dexterity and is lighter than a full gauntlet, but the disadvantage is that the fingers are not as well protected.

Similar varieties of gauntlet are worn by automotive technicians to protect their hands when handling car components, and meat and fishery butchers often wear chain mail gauntlets to protect their hands from the sharp edges of knives.

Motorcyclists wear gauntlets made of leather to protect their hands from abrasion during an accident, and snowmobile drivers wear fingerless gauntlets made of nylon to protect their hands from wind and cold temperatures while driving their vehicles.

Falconers wear leather gauntlets to protect their hands from the sharp claws of the birds of prey that they handle, and lastly, modern competitors in fencing, particularly those competing with the épée, routinely wear fingered gauntlets to protect their hands from possible cuts and puncture wounds from their opponents' weapons.