A piece of leg armor, typically made of metal, that protected the front of the thigh and sometimes extended down the leg.
From Old French cuisse, derived from Latin coxa meaning 'hip' or 'thigh.' This is the primary spelling of the term in English armor terminology.
Cuisse might sound fancy, but Roman soldiers wore almost identical thigh-armor called 'coxa-guard'—it's one of the most durable armor designs in military history because the shape just works!
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