Throwing knife

[2] The wide area they were used over means that they were referred to by a number of names such as Onzil,[3][4] Kulbeda, Mambele, Pinga, and Trombash.

[6] A further complication is that the label "Throwing knife" was attached by ethnographers to various objects that didn't fit into other weapon categories even though they may not have been thrown.

The purpose of the grip is to allow the knife to be safely handled by the user and also to balance the weight of the blade.

Balanced knives can be thrown by gripping either the point or the hilt, depending upon the user's preference and the distance to the target.

Lighter knives can be thrown with relative ease, but they may fail to penetrate the target properly, resulting in "bounce back".

Hans Talhoffer (c. 1410-1415 – after 1482) and Paulus Hector Mair (1517–1579) both mention throwing daggers in their treaties on combat and weapons.