German grammar with the natural gender of what is described. However, since the diminutive forms ending in "-chen" or "-lein" are grammatically neuter, there exist several notable counterexamples such as "das Mädchen" ("girl") and "das Fräulein" ("miss"). Thus these are not illogical, whereas "das Weib" (old, regional or anthropological: woman; a cognate of the English "wife") is really an exception. Furthermore, in German, the gender of nouns without natural gender is not predictable. For example, the three common pieces of cutlery all have different genders: "das Messer" ("knife") is neuter, "die Gabel" ("fork") is feminine, and "der Löffel" ("spoon") is masculine. Students
Messer (weapon) Landsknecht. There is a typology created by James G. Elmslie for messers and falchions similar to the Oakeshott typology based on ongoing research. Messer are characterized by their single-edged blades. The lengths and shapes of the blade can vary greatly. Messer blades can be straight or curved. Extant examples of langes messer seem to have an overall length of with a blade, and a weight between . The defining characteristic of messer is their hilt construction. Quite notable in its construction was the attachment of blade to the hilt via a slab tang sandwiched between two wooden grip plates that