Diamonds (suit)
{{Short description|Suit in French playing cards}}
{{redirect-several|dab=no|Two of Diamonds (album){{!}}Two of Diamonds (album)|Three of Diamonds (book){{!}}Three of Diamonds (book)|Four of Diamonds (band)|Ten-of-diamonds decahedron}}
{{Infobox card suit
| image = SuitDiamonds.svg
| image_size = 120
| image_alt =
| caption =
| native_name = {{langx|fr|Carreau}}
| deck = French-suited playing cards
| invented = 15th century
}}
Diamonds (File:SuitDiamonds.svg) ({{langx|fr|Carreau}}) is one of the four playing card suits in the standard French-suited playing cards. Diamonds along with the other French suits were invented in around 1480.{{cite book|last1=Dummett|first1=Michael|title=The Game of Tarot|date=1980|publisher=Duckworth|location=London|pages=22}} It is the only French suit to not have been adapted from the German deck, taking the place of the suit of Bells. There was one early French pack that used crescents instead of diamonds, which may explain this anomaly. Rough coloring techniques on the red stripe on the German bells may have caused the circles to appear as irregularly shaped dots, and French cardmakers may have decided to drop the details and straighten out the sides.{{cite web|url=http://a_pollett.tripod.com/cards.htm|title=An Introduction to Playing Cards: Historical and Iconographic Notes|last=Pollett|first=Andrea|website=a_pollett.tripod.com|access-date=August 29, 2024}}
Name
The original French name of the suit is {{lang|fr|Carreau}}; in German and Polish it is known as {{lang|de|Karo}}.
In older German-language accounts of card games, Diamonds are frequently referred to as {{lang|de|Eckstein}} ("cornerstone"). In Switzerland, the suit is still called Egge (Ecke i.e. "corner") today. The term "Karo" went into the German language in the 18th century from the French {{lang|fr|carreau}}, which goes back to the Latin word, {{lang|la|quadrum}}, meaning "square" or "rectangle".Wolfgang Pfeifer: Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen. 8. Auflage. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich, 2005, {{ISBN|3-423-32511-9}}.
Characteristics
The diamond typically has a lozenge shape, a parallelogram with four equal sides, placed on one of its points. The sides are sometimes slightly rounded and the four vertices placed in a square, making the sign look like an astroid.
Normally, diamonds are red in colour so they can be used in some games as a pair with Hearts (suit), like Klondike (solitaire). They can however be depicted in blue,Sfetou, Nicholas. The Bridge Game.[https://www.pokerstars.com/en/blog/tournaments/ept/2015/ept12-malta-trialling-the-four-colour-de-158758.shtml Trialling the four-colour deck] at www.pokerstars.com. Retrieved 11 Jun 2018. which is the case for example in bridge (where it is one of the two minor suits along with Clubs). In the official Skat tournament deck, diamonds are yellow or orange, assuming the color of their German-deck equivalent, which are usually golden.
The following gallery shows the diamonds from a standard 52-card deck of French-suited playing cards. Not shown is the Knight of Diamonds used in the tarot card games:
File:01 of diamonds A.svg|Ace
File:02 of diamonds.svg|2
File:03 of diamonds.svg|3
File:04 of diamonds.svg|4
File:05 of diamonds.svg|5
File:06 of diamonds.svg|6
File:07 of diamonds.svg|7
File:08 of diamonds.svg|8
File:09 of diamonds.svg|9
File:10 of diamonds - David Bellot.svg|10
File:Jack of diamonds fr.svg|Jack
File:Queen of diamonds fr.svg|Queen
File:King of diamonds fr.svg|King
Four-colour packs
File:4coloraces1.jpgs of a four-color deck; here, Diamonds are blue.]]
Four-color decks are sometimes used in tournaments or online.Allan & Mackay (2007), p. 155. In such packs Diamonds may be:
- orange File:SuitDiamonds4colors.svg in English and German packs
- yellow File:SuitDiamondsyellow.png in American decks and German Skat tournament packs[http://a_pollett.tripod.com/cards19.htm Gallery 3 - Sizes, Shapes and Colours] at a_pollett.tripod.com. Retrieved 4 Aug 2020. or
- blue File:Suitdiamondsblue.png in English and American Poker decks,[https://www.pokernews.com/pokerterms/four-color-deck.htm Four-Color Deck] at pokernews.com. Retrieved 4 August 2020. French and Swiss four-colour packs.
Coding
References
{{Reflist}}
Literature
- {{cite book | last1=Allan | first1=Elkan |last2=Mackay |first2=Hannah | title=The poker encyclopedia : the definitive poker book | publisher=Portico | publication-place=London | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-906032-09-8 | oclc=156891597}}