Queen cards of all four suits in the English pattern

The queen is a playing card with a picture of a woman on it. In many European languages, the king and queen begin with the same letter so the latter is often called dame (lady) or variations thereof. In French playing cards, the usual rank of a queen is between the king and the jack. In tarot decks, it outranks the knight which in turn outranks the jack.

In the Paris pattern, each court card is identified as a particular historical or mythological personage as follows:[1][2]

Queens in the Paris pattern (portrait officiel) Hearts Diamonds Spades Clubs Judith,

Biblical figure Rachel,

Biblical figure Pallas,

another name for the goddess Athena Argine,

an anagram of Regina (Latin for "queen")

In the game of Hearts, the queen of spades is the major card to avoid, and is called a variety of unsavoury names.

History [ edit ]

See also [ edit ]