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Card game glossary
Every term you'll meet in our guides, explained in a sentence.
A
- Ace high / Ace low
- Whether the Ace ranks above the King (high) or below the 2 (low). Every game decides this differently.
B
- Baraja española
- The Spanish deck: 40 or 48 cards in the suits Oros, Copas, Espadas and Bastos.
- Book
- A set of four cards of the same rank, as in Go Fish.
- Bower
- In Euchre, the Jack of the trump suit (right bower) and the other Jack of the same color (left bower).
C
- Caballo
- The Knight in the Spanish deck, numbered 11.
- Comodín
- A joker in the Spanish deck.
- Court card
- A face card: Jack, Queen or King (or Sota, Caballo and Rey in the Spanish deck).
- Cut
- Splitting the deck in two and swapping the halves after shuffling, to prevent stacking.
D
- Deadwood
- In rummy games, cards in your hand that aren't part of any meld.
- Deal
- Handing out cards to the players. Usually one at a time, clockwise, starting to the dealer's left.
- Discard pile
- The face-up pile where played or discarded cards go.
F
- Follow suit
- Playing a card of the same suit that was led to a trick.
G
- Going out
- Getting rid of your last card, or ending the round by laying down your whole hand.
H
- Hand
- The cards you hold — and also one complete deal of a game.
- House rule
- A local change to the official rules that a family or group plays by.
L
- Lead
- Playing the first card to a trick.
M
- Meld
- A set (same rank) or run (sequence in one suit) laid face up on the table.
P
- Pip cards
- The number cards (2–10), named after the suit symbols, or pips, printed on them.
R
- Rey
- The King in the Spanish deck, numbered 12.
- Run
- Three or more cards in sequence, usually of the same suit (e.g. 5♥ 6♥ 7♥).
S
- Set
- Three or four cards of the same rank (e.g. 9♣ 9♦ 9♠).
- Shedding game
- A game where the goal is to be first to get rid of all your cards.
- Sota
- The Jack (page) in the Spanish deck, numbered 10.
- Stock
- The face-down pile of undealt cards that players draw from.
T
- Tableau
- The main layout of cards in solitaire games.
- Trick
- One round of play in which each player plays one card; the highest card wins the trick.
- Trump
- A suit that beats all other suits for the current hand.
W
- Wild card
- A card that can stand in for any other card, or be played at any time.