王牌 - trump card, king, ace, all three?

[atitarev]

王牌 seems to have all three meanings - trump card, king, ace, according to a few dictionaries, which is confusing. Could some please explain the usage in playing cards?

[skylee]

王牌 simply means "the best". The best dish of a restaurant is its 王牌菜式. The most successful programme of a TV channel is its 王牌節目. etc

I am not sure how it is used in the context of playing cards.

[atitarev]

Thanks, Skylee. I got the idea that it has this meaning, I came across it in figurative sense of "trump card" in a manhua (used in the same way as Japanese 切り札 kirifuda).

I am still interested in understanding the playing card usage. Perhaps, it may be more difficult, since Chinese and European card games are different?

[pennylane]

As far as I know, in terms of cards, it means trump card. So, depending on what game you are playing, the ace or the king may be the 王牌. I'm not sure this is correct, but from playing card games with Korean friends, the 王牌 was always whichever was the card of highest value in that particular game

[trien27]

王 = The king

牌 = card(s)

王 is the only word which corresponds to an actually card name, when compared against English: The King. In ancient China, each dynasty/region is controlled by a king, and the king was the most powerful of all authoritative figures. Since cards were invented in ancient China, I think it's just a newly coined term to tell you that "whoever has this card" has the power to control, therefore, "The Best" so it's the card with the greatest value.

I'm curious: The "deuce" card in Poker is never called "王牌" in Chinese despite being the card with the greatest value, but a "two" on its face?!

[atitarev]

I am struggling to find a proper term for the 3 meanings, purely in paying cards terminology, although I am not a big fan:

It looks as if 王牌 can mean all three.

trump - the suit, in a game of cards, that outranks all others. What if you have the king, which is also of trump suit?

king - a playing card with the image of a king in it

ace - card with a single spot. In many games, it is higher than the king.

If you have both an ace and the king, what do you call them in Chinese? They may or may not belong to the trump suit. I understand the 王牌 has 王 (king) in it but how do I describe and contrast it with the other two terms?

[vampire]

in terms of playing cards, seems 王牌 is never used. the king card is simply called "K" or "王", eg 他出了一张K or 他出了一对王. and in chinese poker games, card's value from lowest to highest is usually ranked as 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K 1 2 black-joker color-joker, K or ace is not of the highest value

[atitarev]

Thank you.

The Chinese Wikipedia article seems to agree: 扑克牌, although we have 尖儿 (ace) and K/凯 for "king", as you said.

* 3、4、5、6、7、8、9、10 照讀數字，其餘五種各有讀法

* A（Ace，普通話：「尖儿」，沪：「爱使（Ace的音譯），粵語：「煙使（Ace的音譯）」，或簡稱「煙」）

* 2（沪语：「烂污泥」，粵語：「弟」(不用粵語讀法，音近似"dee")）

* J（Jack，中文俗称「勾」，沪语：「甲勾」（甲是Jack的音譯），粵語：「積（Jack的粵語音譯）」）

* Q（Queen，中文俗称「疙瘩」或「圈儿」，沪语：「皮蛋」，粵語：「女」（女王Queen的意思）

* K（King，中文俗称「凯」，沪语：「老K」，粵語：「傾（King的粵語音譯；在香港，只是直接讀出"King"，而沒有正式中文）」）。

I will try to go through the article in more detail, in particular about "trump" usage. Please help if you know.

Edited September 16, 2009 at 10:04 AM by atitarev

[fengyixiao]

king - a playing card with the image of a king in it

王牌s are not referred as the ‘K’,they are referred as "大鬼（ghost）、小鬼(ghost)".

[in_lab]

nciku has the following example under "trump"

Hearts are trumps. 紅心是王牌

In English, I would have said "hearts are trump" instead. What about in Chinese--what other ways do people say this?

[atitarev]

Bump on this.

If playing cards are called using English names, how exactly are they pronounced. Is there a version in Chinese?

Can someone confirm, as in my post above, that e.g. "queen" is Q, 疙瘩 or 圈儿?

Which tone is used in the pronunciation of English letters? Or are they supposed to be toneless? I heard ēi bì sī dī on HSK tests or something similar for A, B, C, D.

[fengyixiao]

J-钩(gou1) or 丁钩（ding1 gou1）

Q-圈儿，or Q（ke1 you克有）,never heard of 疙瘩

K-K(kei4) or 老K

[Mugi]

When I lived in Beijing in the mid 90s, the court/face cards and Ace were known as:

J 钩儿 gour1

Q 圈儿 quanr1 (or sometimes kiu1 or qiu1)

K 老K lao3 kei4

A 尖儿 jianr1

[fengyixiao]

A has 4 pronounces:

A(ei) : as same as in english alphabet.

幺(yao):

尖儿(jian1'er):when guys player the game,they may prefer this one,coz 尖 has same pronouncation as 奸（rape）. So,they will play joke "尖你（奸你=rape you:mrgreen:）". Of course,when you play the game with girls,this is rude and impolite. So, 幺 can used anyway.

1（Yi1）：chinse number.

[anon6969]

When I played I am sure 王牌 meant only Trump.

王 was never used to mean the King.

The king was referred to as 'K'.

The King of Trumps was called K牌; Ace of trumps as A牌; Q牌,

This was just learnt from experience, so it might not be correct.

I forgot how the Jokers were called - was it simply 红牌 and 黑牌 or 大牌 小牌 ?

[flywhc]

In Beijing we use

J 勾

Q 圈儿 or 疙(ga1) or 疙瘩(ge1da^) Note: 疙 is ga1 not ge1 when say just one character.

K K(just like English letter)。Illiterates may say 开or 凯

A 尖儿 or 叉，especially a game is called 捉黑叉, Capture the Black A.

Joke: 大猫 小猫 or 大王 小王

e.g. 十勾疙K尖儿同花顺！

shi2 gou1 ga1 kei4 jian1er tong2 hua1 shun4

Royal Flush!

e.g. 不看牌不看牌大猫小猫一起来

bu2kai4pai2 bu2kai4pai2 da4 mao1 xiao3 mao1 yi4 qi3 lai2

Retain from peeking my cards, get both jokers together. (conjuration, player only sort cards after received all cards)

王牌 is not used in card game at all - I haven't heard anybody used it to describe a poker.