Bilbo
Sword similar to a cutlass
- Type
- sword, boarding saber
- Place of origin
- Kingdom of Castile
The bilbo is a type of 16th century, cut-and-thrust sword or small rapier formerly popular in America.
They have well-tempered and flexible blades and were very popular aboard ships, where they were used similarly to a cutlass. The term comes from the Basque city of Bilbao, Bilbo in Basque, where the metal (bilbo steel) was extracted and later sent to Toledo, a city in the center of Spain, where these swords were forged and exported to the New World. These swords were also sold to merchants of every European nation, including England.
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q776671 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.