What does "balisong" mean?

A folding pocket knife with two handles counter-rotating around the tang such that, when closed, the blade is concealed within grooves in the handles.

What is a synonym for "balisong"?

Common synonyms include: batangas knife, batangas knife, butterfly knife, butterfly knife.

Balisong

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A folding pocket knife with two handles counter-rotating around the tang such that, when closed, the blade is concealed within grooves in the handles.

Synonyms

All synonyms

batangas knife batangas knife butterfly knife butterfly knife

Etymology

Popularly believed to derive from the Tagalog phrase baling sungay (literally "broken horn"), since the original balisongs were made from carved animal horns.

Related phrases

pocket knife

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.