Chamfron

//ˈtʃæm.fɹən// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Protective armor for a horse's head, especially the face and ears.

    "The defensive armor with which the horses of the ancient knights or men at arms were covered, or, to use the language of the time, barded, consisted of the following pieces made either of metal or jacked leather, the Chamfron, Chamfrein or Shaffron, the Criniere or Main Facre, the Poitrenal, Poitral or Breast Plate, and the Croupiere or Buttock Piece."

  2. 2
    medieval plate armor to protect a horse's head wordnet

Example

More examples

"The defensive armor with which the horses of the ancient knights or men at arms were covered, or, to use the language of the time, barded, consisted of the following pieces made either of metal or jacked leather, the Chamfron, Chamfrein or Shaffron, the Criniere or Main Facre, the Poitrenal, Poitral or Breast Plate, and the Croupiere or Buttock Piece."

Etymology

From Old French chanfrain, presumably from champ, chanp (“field, battlefield”) + frein (“bit (between a horse's teeth)”).

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