Why is an ace called an ace?

The word "ace" comes from the Old French word as (from Latin 'as') meaning 'a unit', from the name of a small Roman coin. It originally meant the side of a die with only one pip, before it was a term for a playing card.
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What does calling an ace an ace mean?

Word forms: aces

the ace of hearts. Synonyms: one, single point More Synonyms of ace. countable noun. If you describe someone such as a sports player as an ace, you mean that they are very good at what they do. [journalism]
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Where did the term ace come from?

The word 'ace' comes from the Latin or Old French word 'as', meaning 'a single unit'. It was used commonly in the Roman Empire, as the name for a small coin that weighed about 11 grams, and later in many popular games throughout Europe, where it represented the lowest score or value possible.
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Why is ace higher than King?

card games

…the numeral 1 is designated ace and marked A accordingly. In games based on the superiority of one rank over another, such as most trick-taking games, the ace counts highest, outranking even the king. In games based on numerical value, the ace normally counts 1, as in cribbage, or 11,…
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When was the term ace invented?

ace (n.) c. 1300, "one at dice," from Old French as "one at dice" (12c.), from Latin as "a unit, one, a whole, unity;" also the name of a small Roman coin (originally a rectangular bronze plaque weighing one pound, it eventually was reduced by depreciation to half an ounce; in imperial times it became a round coin).
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What does ace mean?

The term “ACEs” is an acronym for Adverse Childhood Experiences. It originated in a groundbreaking study conducted in 1995 by the Centers for Disease Control and the Kaiser Permanente health care organization in California.
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Why is the Ace of Spades called the Death Card?

In the French fortune-telling tradition, an Ace of Spades indicates bad luck or death in one's future. United States troops in the Vietnam War heard this caused some superstitious Vietnamese to fear the card to such a degree that they'd retreat at the very sight of it.
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Is Joker higher than ace?

Object of the Game

To win at least the number of tricks bid. When the two jokers are used, they are the highest-ranking trump cards. The spade suit is comprised of 15 cards: the Big Joker (Full-Color Joker) outranks the Little Joker (One-Color Joker), which outranks the ace of spades.
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Is ace higher than Jack?

The cards are ranked (from high to low) Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. (Ace can be high or low, but is usually high). There are four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs); however, no suit is higher than another. All poker hands contain five cards, the highest hand wins.
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Why are pilots called aces?

The term 'ace' is generally taken to mean any fighter pilot credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft. Lone aerial combat provided an outlet for acts of personal bravery. The aces were seen as chivalrous heroes engaged in honest and impressive one-to-one fighting.
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Is ace short for anything?

Ace is an English name and a Macedonian short form of Aleksandar.
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What does ace stand for Army?

Ask, Care, Escort, or ACE, training is the Army-approved suicide prevention and awareness training model for all Soldiers, leaders and Army civilians.
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Is it OK to say call a spade a spade?

The Oxford English Dictionary records a forceful, obscene variant, "to call a spade a bloody shovel", attested since 1919. Robert Burton used the idiom in his The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) to describe his ostensibly plain writing style, claiming, "I call a spade a spade" (1.17.
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What does it mean to say call a spade a spade?

See synonyms for call a spade a spade on Thesaurus.com. To speak directly and bluntly; to avoid euphemism: “The prosecutor said, 'Let's call a spade a spade. You didn't borrow the money, you stole it.
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What does a black spade mean?

The Black Spades were a mostly African-American street gang which started in the Bronx during the late 1960s and gained popularity in the 1970s.
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Is ace to five a straight?

Ace-to-five makes the lowest possible straight, while ten-to-ace is the highest possible straight. All other straights in between the low and high ends use the highest-ranking card to determine the hand's strength.
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Is king bigger than joker?

Players may not look at the cards in their hands. Each player pulls one card from the deck and puts it on the table. The higher card wins; the player who played it takes both cards and places them on the bottom of his stack. Aces are always higher than Kings in this game, but they are often lower than Jokers (if used).
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Is ace through 5 a straight?

An ace, king, queen, jack and 10 is the highest ranked straight and a 5, 4, 3, 2 and ace is the lowest ranked straight. A hand that consists of three cards of the same rank. Three aces is the highest ranked three of a kind and three 2's is the lowest ranked three of a kind.
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What beats an ace in war?

The ranking of the cards is from ace (high) down to six (low), except that a six beats an ace. In other words, if a six and an ace are played the six counts as the highest card and wins the trick, but if a six is played an no one played an ace the six counts as lowest.
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Which card suit is highest?

High card by suit and low card by suit refer to assigning relative values to playing cards of equal rank based on their suit. When suit ranking is applied, the most common conventions are: Alphabetical order: clubs (lowest), followed by diamonds, hearts, and spades (highest).
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Why did Vietnam soldiers wear ace of spades?

In Vietnam, the ace of spades (death card) was thought by some to put a scare into the superstitious enemy and were left behind on dead enemy bodies after a firefight. Other soldiers used the card as a morale booster – wearing it proudly on helmets to show they were tough and fearless warriors.
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What is the luckiest playing card?

The Ace of Spades (also known as the Spadille and Death Card) is traditionally the highest and most valued card in the deck of playing cards in English-speaking countries.
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Why is the ace of spades so big?

That was because card manufacturers had to pay taxes – so called stamp duty was applied. Various methods were used to show that the tax was paid, including a physical stamp on the highest card of the deck, which is, of course, the ace of spades. That is how it all began.
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