The machete is a large cleaver

Cleaver (knife)

A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed hatchet. It is used mostly for hacking through bones as a kitchen knife or butcher knife, and can also be used for crushing via its broad side, typically garlic....

-like cutting tool. The blade is typically 32.5 to 60 cm (12.8 to 23.6 in) long and usually under 3 millimetre (0.118110236220472 in) thick. In the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known. In the English-speaking Caribbean such as Jamaica, Grenada and in Trinidad and Tobago, the term "cutlass

Cutlass

A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket shaped guard...

" is used for these agricultural tools.
In various tropical and subtropical countries, the machete is frequently used to cut through rain forest undergrowth and for agricultural purposes (e.g.