swordsman

swordsmen

A swordsman is a person who is very good at swordplay or fencing. If you are looking to find a swordsman, you should look among Shakespeare's characters.

While some people use the word swordsman whether they're talking about a man or a woman, it's increasingly common to use swordswoman for female fencers. These days, most swordsmen take part in the sport of fencing, while in the past a swordsman might actually have engaged in battle or dueled with swords to settle an argument. Before the mid-1600s, the word was swordman, from the Old English sweordfreca.