A trump is a

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

which is elevated above its usual rank in

trick-taking game A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such g ...

s. Typically, an entire

suit A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of tr ...

is nominated as a ''trump suit''; these cards then outrank all cards of plain (non-trump) suits. In other contexts, the terms ''trump card'' or ''to trump'' refers to any sort of action, authority, or policy which automatically prevails over all others.

Etymology

The English word ''

trump Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...

'' derives from '' trionfi'', a type of 15th-century

Italian playing cards Playing cards (''carte da gioco'') have been in Italy since the late 14th century. Until the mid 19th century, Italy was composed of many smaller independent states which led to the development of various regional patterns of playing cards; "Ital ...

, from the Latin '' triumphus'' "triumph, victory procession", ultimately (via Etruscan) from Greek θρίαμβος, the term for a hymn to

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

sung in processions in his honour. ''Trionfi'' was the 15th-century card game for which

tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...

cards were designed. ''Trionfi'' were a fifth suit in the card game which acted as permanent trumps. Still in the 15th century, the French game ''

triomphe Triomphe (French for triumph), once known as French Ruff, is a card game dating from the late 15th century. It most likely originated in France or Spain (as triunfo) and later spread to the rest of Europe. When the game arrived in Italy, it shared ...

'' (Spanish '' triunfo'') used four suits, one of which was randomly selected as trumps. It was this game that became extremely popular in Western Europe in the 16th century and is ancestral to many modern card games. The English word is first documented in 1529 as the name of a card game which would develop into

Ruff and Honours Ruff and Honours, Ruffe and Trump or Slamm was an English trick-taking card game that was popular in the 16th and 17th centuries; it was superseded in the 18th century by Whist. History Ruff and Honours is covered in Charles Cotton's ''The Comple ...

and ultimately

Whist Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play. History Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...

. In German, the term is attested as ''Triumph'' in 1541; the modern German spelling ''Trumpf'' is recorded from 1590. In French, ''triomphe'' remained the name of the game, while the trump suit was called '' atout'', from ''à tout'' (as it were " all-in"). Some European languages (Hungarian, Greek) adopted the French term. Russian козырь ''kozyr' '' is of unknown etymology, possibly a loan from a Turkic source. Polish variously uses ''atut'', ''trumf'' and ''kozer'' adopted from the French, German and Russian respectively.

Trump in card games

In most games, the relative rank of cards within a suit is the same in trump and plain suits, but they may sometimes differ, for example in

Klabberjass Klaberjass () or Bela is a trick-taking Ace-Ten card game that is most popular in German communities. In its basic form it is a 9-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack. As in other point-trick games of the King ...

Euchre Euchre or eucre () is a trick-taking card game commonly played in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the United States. It is played with a deck of 24, 28, or 32 standard playing cards. Normally there are four players, two on e ...

, or Eighty Points. The trump suit may be fixed as in Spades, rotate on a fixed schedule or depend on the outcome of the previous hand as in Ninety-nine, be determined by drawing a card at random as in

Bezique Bezique () or Bésigue () is a 19th-century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players that came to Britain and is still played today. The game is derived from Piquet,''Transactions of the Philological Society'', Philological Socie ...

, by the last card dealt to a designated player as in

, by the first card played as in Nine Card Don, be chosen by a designated player as in Barbu, or players may bid for the right to select the trump suit as in

Contract Bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions o ...

or Skat. In most games, trump cards cannot be played if the player has any cards of the suit led to the trick; the requirement to "

follow suit A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a '' hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such ...

" is of higher priority. In a few games, trumps can be played at any time. Playing the first trump to an already-started trick is known as ''trumping'' or ''

ruffing In trick-taking games, to ruff means to play a trump card to a trick (other than when trumps were led). According to the rules of most games, a player must have no cards left in the suit led in order to ruff. Since the other players are constraine ...

''; if another player were to play a higher trump, that would be an ''overruff'' or ''overtrump''. The

deck contains a fifth suit, known in gaming as the ''atouts'' or ''honours'' and in occult circles as the

Major Arcana The Major Arcana are the named or numbered cards in a cartomantic tarot pack, the name being originally given by occultists to the trump cards of a normal tarot pack used for playing card games. There are usually 22 such cards in a standard 78-car ...

, which serves as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck. The suit consists of twenty-two cards, including a

Fool Fool, The Fool, or Fools may refer to: *A jester, also called a ''fool'', a type of historical entertainer known for their witty jokes *An insult referring to someone of low intelligence or easy gullibility Arts, entertainment and media Fictio ...

which serves as a highest trump (in Central Europe) or excuses the players from following suit elsewhere. Due primarily to the prevalence of the trump in card games, the term used in Japan for the standard 52-card deck of playing cards is , derived from the English word "trump".A Japanese website for a playing card manufacturer (Nintendo) selling "Trump" playing cards.
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References

{{List of trick-taking games Card game terminology Playing cards

Etymology

Trump in card games

See also

References