Spades (suit)

Spades is one of the four suits found in playing cards.

In bridge, it ranks highest out of the four suits. In cartomancy, it is typically associated with death.whatFact|date=August 2008

The symbol was first used on French playing cards, made in Rouen and Lyon in the 15th Century, around the time that playing cards were first mass-produced by the use of woodcuts. The suits were based on the four major economic classes of the late Middle Ages: spades represented the military, hearts represented the clergy, clubs represented agriculture and diamonds represented trade merchants.

In the Germanic countries the spade was the symbol associated with the blade of a spade - and in all Germanic languages the name of the tool and the suit are identical. In German and Dutch the suit is also, alternately, named "Schüppen" and "schoppen" (shovel).

It is often stated that the suit is named after Spanish "espada" (sword), but this is not likely. In Germany and Scandinavia, Spanish playing cards were not in use, and Spanish loanwords in these languages were rare. It should also be noted that the Spanish name for the French suit is "picas" - not "espadas".

In some parts of Britain, namely the West Midlands, the suit can be known as "cabbages", or "cabbage-leaf", which is a direct correlation with the German suit of "leaves".Fact|date=March 2008

Analogues in other suits

* German suits: leaves ( _de. Laub, Blatt, Gras, Grün)
* Swiss German suits: shields ( _de. Schilten)
* Italo-Spanish suits: swords ( _it. Spade / _es. Espadas)
* Tarot suits: suit of swords

Meanings in other languages

* - pikes, lances
* - pikes, lances
* (Bastounia) - canes
* - pikes, lances
* ("List") - leaf (always singular)
* - swords
* ("Piki") (transcription from French)
* - pikes, lances
* - pikes, lances

Сodes of symbol

Unicode — U+2660 and U+2664:: ♠ ♤HTML — "♠" ("♠") and "♤"::

Example cards

The Beatles TV show

On the Beatles TV show, Ringo Starr is the spades suit.

ee also

*Ace of Spades
*Spades (card game)