Diamonds (suit)

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see Two of Diamonds (album), Three of Diamonds (book), Four of Diamonds (band), and Ten-of-diamonds decahedron.
Diamonds
Native nameFrench: Carreau
DeckFrench-suited playing cards
Invented15th century

Diamonds (♦) (French: 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.[1] 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.[1] 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.[2]

  1. ^ a b Dummett, Michael (1980). The Game of Tarot. London: Duckworth. p. 22.
  2. ^ Pollett, Andrea. "An Introduction to Playing Cards: Historical and Iconographic Notes". a_pollett.tripod.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.