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A Khanjali (Adyghe: Къамэ,Georgian: ხანჯალი, or Kinzhal when translating the Russian Кинжал) is a double-edged dagger often with a single off-set groove on each face of the blade. The shape of the weapon is similar to the ancient Greek Xiphos, the Roman Gladius, or the Scottish dirk; and has been used as a secondary weapon in Georgia and the Caucasus since ancient times.
Such daggers and their scabbards are usually highly engraved in gold or silver designs, and sometimes include embedded gemstones. The scabbard will generally feature a ball point extension on the tip, and the handle is usually made of materials such as wood or ivory.
Although part of the national Georgian mens traditional costume, the Circassian and Don Cossacks, among others, also wear this weapon – see burka (Caucasus). The Circassian dagger is known as the adigha gkama.
The Russian poets Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov both addressed celebrated poems to this weapon.