playing cards

Set of small pieces of card with different markings, used in playing games. A standard set consists of a pack of 52 cards divided into four suits: hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades. Within each suit there are 13 cards: nine are numbered (from two to ten), three are called court, picture, or face cards (jack, queen, and king), and one is called the ace.

Playing cards are thought to have originated in China, and first appeared in Europe in 14th-century Italy as the 78 cards (22 emblematic, including ‘the hanged man’, and 56 numerals) of the tarot cards, used both for gaming and in fortune-telling. However, in the 15th century they were reduced to the standard pack of 52 for most games, which include bridge, whist, poker, rummy, and cribbage.