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Hearts (suit)

Hearts
Native names	French: Cœur German: Herz, Rot, Roth (arch.)
Decks	French-suited playing cards German-suited playing cards
Invented	15th century

Hearts (♥, ) (French: Cœur, German: Herz) is one of the four playing card suits in a deck of French-suited and German-suited playing cards. However, the symbol is slightly different: is used in a French deck while is used in a German deck.

This suit was invented in 15th century Germany and is a survivor from a large pool of experimental suit signs created to replace the Latin suits. The French design was created around 1480 when French suits were invented and was a simplified version of the existing German suit symbol for hearts in a German-suited pack.^[1]

InSwiss-suited playing cards, the equivalent suit is Roses, typically with the following suit symbol: .

Name[edit]

InBridge, for which in Germany the French deck is common, it is called by its French name, Cœur. In games using German-suited cards the suit of Hearts is often called "Red" (Rot), e.g. the Unter of Hearts would be the "Red Unter" (RotunterorRot-Unter) and the Nine of Hearts the "Red Nine" (RotneunorRot-Neun). In the game of Watten, the King of Hearts is the highest Trump. In Tiến Lên, Hearts are the highest-ranked suit.

The origin of the term "heart" to describe the symbol, which only very marginally resembles a true heart, is not known.^[2] In general, equivalents in other languages also mean "heart".

• 
  The heart in German suited cards
• 
  The heart in French suited cards

Characteristics[edit]

The heart typically has a form of cardioid, the lower part of which ends in a point. The symbol is drawn with its tip down, the two lobes of the cardioid pointing upwards. Generally, the hearts are coloured red.

French pattern[edit]

The following gallery shows the hearts of a standard 52-card deckofFrench-suited playing cards. Not shown is the Knight of Hearts, used in tarot card games:

• 
  Ace
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10
• 
  Jack
• 
  Queen
• 
  King

German pattern[edit]

The gallery below shows a suit of Hearts from a German-suited playing cards of 32 cards. The pack is of the Saxonian pattern:

• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10
• 
  Unter
• 
  Ober
• 
  King
• 
  DeuceorAce

Four-colour packs[edit]

Four-color decks are sometimes used in tournaments or online.^[3] In such packs Hearts may be:

• red in almost poker packs
• yellow in some other four-colour packs.

Coding[edit]

The symbol ♥ is already in the CP437 and therefore also in the WGL4. In Unicode, a black heart ♥ and a white ♡ heart are defined:

See also[edit]

• Hearts (card game)

References[edit]