aventail

A1V4E1N1T1A1I1L1
/ˈævənteɪl/

noun

A curtain or flap of mail, fastened to a helmet, or to a coif (hood) of mail, covering the lower face, neck, and shoulders.

Similar
camailventail
OriginMiddle English aventayle ← Old French esventail ← Latin ex →
Less commonScrabble 11
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Meanings

nounaventail (plural aventails)

plural aventails · alternative aventaile

  1. A curtain or flap of mail, fastened to a helmet, or to a coif (hood) of mail, covering the lower face, neck, and shoulders.

    […] the hood was increasingly replaced with a mail curtain (the camail or aventail) suspended from the outside of the bascinet, and the bascinet thus augmented gradually replaced the clumsy great helm as the principal defense […]

    1995, William W. Kibler, Medieval France: An Encyclopedia, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 126

    Synonyms: camail, ventail

  2. Synonym of ventail (“movable (solid plate) front to a helmet”).

    Synonyms: ventail

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA curtain or flap of mail, fastened to a helmet, or to a coif (hood) of mail, covering the lower face, neck, and shoulders.

Similar
camailventail

nounSynonym of ventail (“movable (solid plate) front to a helmet”).

Similar
ventail

More synonyms by meaning

nouna medieval hood of mail suspended from a basinet to protect the head and neck

Similar
camailventail
Broader
hood
Also see
camailventail

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinex“out”
  2. Old Frenchesventail“air-hole”
  3. Middle Englishaventayle
  4. Englishaventail

From Middle English aventayle, from Old French esventail (“air-hole”), from esventer (Modern French éventer), from Latin ex (“out”) + ventus (“wind”). Related to ventail.

More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan collar
  • collaradjustable mail protecting the neck
German Helmbrünne
  • Helmbrünneadjustable mail protecting the neck
Italian camaglio
  • camaglioadjustable mail protecting the neck
Portuguese camal
  • camaladjustable mail protecting the neck
Russian ба́рмица
  • ба́рмица (bármica)adjustable mail protecting the neck

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

alvanitevanalite
Cite this entry
APA

aventail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aventail

MLA

“aventail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aventail. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “aventail,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aventail.

Source: aventail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.