Trump
nounIn a card game, a suit chosen to rank above the others, or a card of that suit.
How to spell trump
5 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce trump
What does trump mean?
- nounIn a card game, a suit chosen to rank above the others, or a card of that suit.
- verbTo beat or override something by playing or offering something stronger.
Trump in a sentence
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noun
Hearts were named trump for the opening round.
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verb
A higher salary will usually trump a shorter commute for most candidates.
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noun
She held the last trump and won the trick.
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verb
A written contract can trump a verbal promise in any dispute.
Where does trump come from?
Language of origin: French
Trump is a worn-down form of the word triumph, which English took from the Old French triomphe and ultimately from the Latin triumphus, the name for the grand victory procession granted to a successful Roman general. In the sixteenth century an old card game itself was called triumph, and the favoured suit that beat the others was the triumph card; through ordinary speech this clipped and softened into trump. From the card sense came the figurative verb meaning to beat or override something with a stronger move. A quite separate but identical-looking trump, meaning a trumpet or its blast (as in the old phrase the trump of doom), descends instead from the Old French trompe, an imitation of the instrument's sound, so the two trumps reached English by different roads even though they look the same. Because the word is short and spelled exactly as it sounds, the spelling rarely trips anyone up; the only real curiosity is its hidden link to the grand Latin triumphus.
How the word is built
- trump (a single root, a shortened and altered form of triumph: a winning or superior card); no prefix or suffix
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