card

English has two words spelled card: the wire brush for combing wool, from Latin carduus “thistle”, and the piece of stiff paper, from Latin charta “papyrus leaf”.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /kɑːd/, US /kɑːrd/^[4]

card¹ comb for wool

Etymology

The comb is inherited from Middle English carde, borrowed from Old French carde (“card, teasel”),^[5][6][7] from Old Provençal carda, a back-formation from cardar (“to card, tease”),^[5][6][8] and also through Anglo-Latin cardo,^[5][2] from Latin carduus (“thistle”),^[5][1][8] related to cārere (“to card wool”).^[6][8] Barnhart and Etymonline trace these to Proto-Indo-European *kars- (“to scrape”), the root of harsh.^[2][5] The verb is from the noun, or from Old French carder.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tool for combing wool or flax: 1375, in a legal document, and earlier in the surname Cardmaker, 1351.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The card was first made of teasel heads set in a frame, for raising the nap on cloth,^[9] and later was a wire brush on a strip of leather.^[10] The verb, “to comb wool”, is from about 1378^[2] or the late 14th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 1351 – in the surname Cardmaker.^[2]
• 1375 – a carding tool.^[2]
• c. 1378 – verb, to card wool.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A wire-toothed brush or machine for combing and cleaning fibres such as wool before spinning.

Verb

1. To comb out fibres with a card.

Word family

• carder
• carding

card² piece of stiff paper

Etymology

The paper card is inherited from Middle English carde, borrowed from Middle French carte in an altered form,^[5][2][1][3] from Latin charta (“leaf of papyrus, paper”),^[5][1] from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, “layer of papyrus”),^[5][8] probably of Egyptian origin.^[5][8] Its form was influenced by Italian carta (“paper”).^[5][3] The change in English from -t to -d is unexplained,^[5][2] though Barnhart suggests the influence of the earlier card¹; in Scots carte was the established form.^[2] It is related to chart and charter.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A playing card: probably before 1425,^[2] or the early 15th century,^[5] the first recorded sense in English as in French.^[5][11]

Semantic evolution

The sense was extended to other small flat pieces of stiff paper by the 1590s,^[5] 1596 in Barnhart.^[2] A card bearing one's name and address, as a visiting card or business card, is from 1795.^[5] A house of cards is from 1641.^[10] Play one's cards well is from the mid-18th century, and became play one's cards right in the 20th century.^[11] Lay one's cards on the table is from the mid-19th century, and a card up one's sleeve from the 19th century.^[11] The verb meant “to play cards” in the 1540s, now obsolete,^[5] and “to require someone to show an identity card” from the 1970s.^[5] Card table is from 1713 and cardboard from 1848.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1425 – a playing card.^[2]
• 1548 – verb, to play cards.^[2]
• 1596 – a piece of stiff paper.^[2]
• 1641 – house of cards.^[10]
• 1713 – card table.^[2]
• 1795 – a visiting card.^[5]
• 1848 – cardboard.^[2]
• 1970s – to check identity cards.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. One of a set of small rectangles of stiff paper with marks, used in games; a playing card.
2. A small piece of stiff paper with information printed on it, such as a business card.
3. A card with a picture and a message: a birthday card.
4. A small plastic card used for payment or identification: a credit card.
5. (informal) An amusing or eccentric person.

Verb

1. To ask someone to show proof of age or identity.

Word family

• cardboard
• cardsharp
• postcard
• scorecard
• card table
• credit card

Related words

• chart
• charter
• carte
• cartoon
• carton
• harsh
• chard

References

1. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press