At its basic level the bayonet can be seperated into three main areas for ease of explanation:

The Hilt comprises a number of components. Note that not all components will be present on each and every bayonet.

This is the part of the bayonet which normally contains the locking mechanism to attach the bayonet to the rifle

Press Stud (5)

This operates a sprung catch which connects with a bar located on the rifle to secure the bayonet. Press Studs can take different forms to that shown and be located away from the Pommel, an example being that of the French M1886 Lebel which has the press stud located immediately behind the Crossguard.
Another method of securing the bayonet to the rifle is by way of a leaf spring. These will be encountered on 19th Century sword bayonets. Socket bayonets have neither press stud nor leaf spring and are secured by means of a angled slot. These will be covered later.

The Crossguard comprises the muzzle ring and quillon. Note not all bayonets will have a quillon, and not all bayonets will have a full muzzle ring as shown.

The muzzle ring, as its name implies, fits over the rifle barrel. In the picture shown, a full muzzle ring is shown. In the case of certain bayonets, the German K98 for example, muzzle rings are not present, and it is possible to find bayonets, particularly German, where conversions of bayonets have resulted in muzzle rings being removed in order that the bayonet can fit a later model rifle.

Once again this will not be present on all bayonets. Quillons can take many forms, being swept forward, as in the case of the French Mle 1866, or swept back as in the case of the German S98/05.

Blades can take many forms, being straight, yataghan , double edged, false edged, fullered, etc etc.. For the moment we will confine ourselves to identifying the main parts of the bayonet blade below which is from the British P1888 used in the previous illustrations.

The example above shows a "double edged" blade. This means that there is a blade edge along both sides of the blade, unlike most knife & sword bayonets where the edge runs the full length of one side of the blade only. In the example above, to provide strength to the blade, the blade is "thicker" in the centre than the edges giving the blade an almost diamond shape in cross-section.

This is the part of the bayonet which normally displays most information about a bayonet. Here you may well find the makers name stamped, date of manufacture, issue dates & inspection stamps all of which are invaluable in identifying an unknown model.

Scabbards can be found in a variety of materials, however you will most commonly encounter those manufactured from leather with metal fittings, or else all metal. The example shown below, for uniformity,is the scabbard from a British P1888 Bayonet.