Spades in Cards Are Swords, Not Shovels
A spade is a digging tool. The card suit shares the name by coincidence of translation, and originally meant sword.
A spade is a tool with a flat blade for digging. The card suit is a different word that landed on the same spelling: Italian and Spanish cards used *spade* and *espadas*, meaning swords, and English heard a familiar word and kept it while adopting the French leaf-shaped symbol. So the suit is named for swords and pictured as a leaf. *Call a spade a spade* means speaking plainly, and comes from a Greek proverb mistranslated by Erasmus.
- A digging tool. *A garden spade.*
- A card suit. *The ace of spades.*
- Call a spade a spade — speak plainly. *Call a spade a spade.*
- Italian — *spade*, swords. *The card source.*
- Old English — *spadu*. *The tool source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | spade | A spade. |
| Plural | spades | Spades. |
| Verb | spade | Spade the ground. |
| Suit | spades | The suit of spades. |
| Italian | spada | A sword. |
- He dug the bed over with a spade.Tool.
- She led the ace of spades.Cards.
- Let us call a spade a spade.Idiom.
The four suits and their origins
- Spades — from Italian swords, drawn as French leaves
- Hearts — from German hearts, kept in French
- Diamonds — from French *carreaux*, paving tiles
- Clubs — from Italian *bastoni*, batons, drawn as French clover
- The names and pictures come from different national traditions
The tool is Old English *spadu*. The card suit is from Italian *spade*, plural of *spada*, a sword, from Greek *spathe*, a blade.
Why are card spades shaped like leaves?
The name came from Italian swords but the symbol came from the French deck, where the shape was a leaf. The two traditions merged.
Where does call a spade a spade come from?
From a Greek proverb about calling a fig a fig and a trough a trough. Erasmus mistranslated trough as spade and the English version followed.