View source for Shiv (weapon)

{{wiktionary|shiv|shank}}
{{Short description|Improvised knife-like weapon}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
[[File:Shiv.jpg|thumb|Shivs hidden in a book, Hong Kong]]
A '''shiv''' (also '''chiv'''<ref name="Campbell2008"/> or '''shivvie''') or '''shank'''<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|shank}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|shank|access-date=20 February 2023}}</ref> is an improvised [[edged and bladed weapons|pointed or bladed weapon]] resembling a [[knife]] that is commonly associated with prison inmates. 

The word ''shiv'' is recorded from the 1670s (in the spelling ''chive'') as [[cant (language)|cant]] for "knife."<ref name="etymonline"/> The exact spelling ''shiv'' is recorded in underworld slang from 1915.<ref name="etymonline"/> The cant word probably derives from the [[Romani language|Romani]] word ''chiv'' "blade" (compare Romani ''chivomengro'' "knifeman").<ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|shiv}}</ref><ref name="etymonline">{{OEtymD|shiv|accessdate=2023-02-20}}</ref> The derived verb '''to shiv''' means "to stab (someone) with a shiv," and a '''shivver''' is an archaic term for a criminal who attacks victims with a knife.<ref>{{cite dictionary |author=[[Tom Dalzell]] |entry=shiv; chiv; shivvie |title=The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English |year=2009 |page=869}}</ref>

Since weapons are prohibited in prisons, the intended mode of concealment is central to a shiv's construction. An especially thin handle, for instance, makes it easier to conceal in available cracks or crevices in the prison's construction, or in stacks of objects, such as books, permitted to the prisoners; however, this can also render the shiv difficult to grip and wield. Routine [[body search]]es in prison make it difficult to conceal a shiv on one's person on a continuous basis. As well as the prison authorities, it is also desirable to conceal possession of a shiv from members of [[prison gang|rival prison population]]s. 

==In the United States==
[[File:Prison shivs (cropped).jpg|thumb|A display of contraband weapons at the [[Old Idaho Penitentiary]] museum.]]
The word '''shank''' is American [[prison slang]] for an improvised stabbing weapon. Shanks can be made in various ways: a [[razor blade]] stuck into the melted end of a toothbrush;<ref name="Pence1989"/>{{rp|26a}} a metal bucket handle filed into a sharp point;<ref name="Pence1989"/>{{rp|35a}} or simply a hank of [[chicken wire]] twisted back on itself.<ref name="Pence1989"/>{{rp|26a}}

The term apparently originates from the fact that in the 19th century men's [[boots]] were (and most [[work boots]] still are) often equipped with a shank (that is, a central rib providing [[arch support]]) of [[steel]], which could be extracted and improvised into a weapon. This threat was well known to prison guards in the 19th century, as shown by this description from 1882:

{{cquote|{{bracket|[[Charles J. Guiteau|Guiteau's]]}} old shoes were taken from him and others promised him. The necessity for this rule requiring a prisoner to leave his boots or shoes which he wears on arrival at the jail with the officers, is found in the fact that in many boots and shoes are steel or iron shanks, which prisoners sharpen when they can get them, and make what are in prison slang known as "cheesers," with which they might do damage.<ref name="Star1882"/>}}

In Guiteau's day the reported slang term was ''cheeser'';<ref name="PoliceGazette1881"/><ref name="Star1882"/> but the slang noun ''shank'' was in use by 1989.<ref name="Pence1989"/>

In the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]], weapons, sharpened instruments, and knives are considered contraband and their possession is punishable as a highest severity-level prohibited act.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5270_009.pdf |title=Inmate discipline program |publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons|access-date=2020-06-09}}</ref>{{page number needed|date=November 2025}}

==In Britain==
In Britain, the word ''shiv'' may also be spelled '''chiv''',<ref name="Campbell2008"/> and the word ''shank'' appears unknown.

In the 1950s, British criminal [[Billy Hill (gangster)|Billy Hill]] described his use of a "chiv":

{{cquote|I was always careful to draw my knife down on the face, never across or upwards. Always down. So that if the knife slips you don't cut an artery. After all, chivving is chivving, but cutting an artery is usually murder. Only mugs do murder.<ref name="Campbell2008"/>}}

==References==
<references>
<ref name="Campbell2008">{{cite news |title=Billy Hill biography remembers one of Britain's best known gangsters |newspaper=The Guardian |author=[[Duncan Campbell (journalist, born 1944)|Duncan Campbell]] |date=2008-07-29 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2008/jul/30/biography.billyhill}}</ref>

<ref name="Pence1989">{{cite court |litigants=Pence v. Board of County Commissioners |vol=493 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=976 |court=U.S. |date=1989 |url=https://archive.org/details/micro_IA40385020_0320/micro_IA40385020_0320%201.%20Petition%20for%20Writ%20of%20Certiorari}} "Q. What kind of weapons would you see made down there? A. I would say shanks made out of fence or whatever piece of wire they could make a shank out of."</ref>

<ref name="PoliceGazette1881">{{cite newspaper |title=Guiteau Flourishing a Knife |newspaper=The National Police Gazette |location=New York |date=1881-09-03 |volume=38 |issue=206 |page=6 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_national-police-gazette_1881-09-03_38_206/page/6 |quote=The knife is what is known to convicts as a "cheeser." It is made from the steel shank of a shoe ground sharp on both edges and to a point. The blade thus formed is about three inches long. By wrapping paper about the other end and binding it tightly with twine a stout handle is made and a very good knife and very ugly weapon is produced.}}</ref>

<ref name="Star1882">{{cite newspaper |title=Guiteau's Jail Experience |newspaper=The Evening Star |location=Washington, D. C. |date=1882-06-30 |page=6 |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1882-06-30/ed-1/?sp=6}}</ref>
</references>

{{Knives}}

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[[Category:Edged and bladed weapons]]
[[Category:Prison-related crime]]
[[Category:Improvised weapons]]
[[Category:Knives]]