A heavy knife with a large, wide blade used mainly for cutting meat and bone in kitchens or butcheries.
From Middle English 'cleven,' meaning 'to split or divide,' combined with '-er' making it 'one that cleaves.' The tool is named after exactly what it does—it cleaves meat apart.
A cleaver is one of humanity's oldest tools—archaeological evidence shows butchers have used heavy flat blades for meat for at least 2.5 million years, making this cutting style older than cooking itself.
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