# Word Origin: "euchre" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312 "2004-05-15T19:50:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/1 "2004-05-15T19:50:27Z")
This is a card game rather popular in mid-eastern canada. I have yet to meet a french-canadian who doesn’t play it, yet no one seems to know what it means. help. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/2 "2004-05-15T19:57:18Z")
The OED doesn’t know: > [@](#): > > Of uncertain etymology. > As BOWER n.8, one of the terms used in this game, is of Ger. origin, it has often been supposed that the word euchre is also from German, but no probable source has been found in that lang. Can it be a. Sp. yuca, in the phrase ser yuca, given by Caballero as an American expression for ‘to be cock of the walk, to get the best in anything’ (ser el gallito en alguna cosa, sobresalir en algo) ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/3 "2004-05-15T20:25:29Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > The OED doesn’t know: Damn. Beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/4 "2004-05-15T21:15:57Z")
“One explanation of the word Euchre itself describes it as a sort of Germanic mispronunciation of Joker. Others range from the implausible to the improbable.” from “The penguin book of card games”, by David Parlett, published 1979, page 122 I think I remember that Mr. Parlett may have gone into slightly more detail in his book focusing on four-person card games in particular, but I can’t figure out where I left that one. (Quite an authority on card diversions of all sorts, especially any that have ever been played in the british isles.) And if you’re wondering why euchre would be named after the joker when the joker isn’t even in play… then you’re playing it about a hundred years too late. 😃 (Originally the jester was the Best Bower in play, overtrumping even the familiar jacks of color, the left and right bowers, but he got benched when the game got streamlined.) ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/5 "2004-05-15T22:29:39Z")
I just want to needlessly interject that euchre is exceptionally popular in Michigan. Back in my Army days, I always knew who else was from Michigan whenever I’d encounter them playing euchre. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/6 "2004-05-15T23:36:40Z")
While there is currently no clue as to where the word _Euchre_ came from, the game is strictly US and traced back in print to 1841. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/7 "2004-05-16T01:05:33Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I just want to needlessly interject that euchre is exceptionally popular in Michigan. Back in my Army days, I always knew who else was from Michigan whenever I’d encounter them playing euchre. I’m from Michigan and agree. It’s popular here. I thought it was fairly popular elsewhere; isn’t there a Poirot novel where he solves the murder by studying the Euchre playing? ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/8 "2004-05-16T01:28:53Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I just want to needlessly interject that euchre is exceptionally popular in Michigan. Back in my Army days, I always knew who else was from Michigan whenever I’d encounter them playing euchre. Certainly not just Michigan… I’d say “Midwest in general”… I learned it at Indiana U, and everyone there seemed to know the game. Except for the music majors… ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/9 "2004-05-16T02:22:03Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > While there is currently no clue as to where the word _Euchre_ came from, the game is strictly US and traced back in print to 1841. Funny how a “strictly US” game is “popular in mid-Eastern Canada”, as stated in the OP. A quick Google search turns up [this site](http://www.pagat.com/euchre/euchre.html), stating: > [@](#): > > Euchre was probably derived from the game Jucker which was formerly played in Alsace. Euchre reached the USA in the early nineteenth century and was the original game for which the Joker was introduced into the playing-card pack in the 1850s (to serve as the highest trump). It has already been mentioned that Euchre is popular in the US Navy, and it may be through this maritime connection that it travelled in the later nineteenth century from America to other English speaking parts of the world. Certainly in Britain it is mainly found in regions where there has been a strong Naval influence. And many others stating pretty much the same thing, so one can’t even say it’s strictly US _in origin_. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/10 "2004-05-16T02:27:58Z")
All the steelworkers in Pittsburgh play. I’ve been playing since I was a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/11 "2004-05-16T03:06:55Z")
Incidentally, Euchre is responsible for the joker’s inclusion in our modern deck of cards. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/12 "2004-05-16T03:33:28Z")
> [@Mathochist](#): > > Funny how a “strictly US” game is “popular in mid-Eastern Canada”, as stated in the OP. > > A quick Google search turns up [this site](http://www.pagat.com/euchre/euchre.html), stating: > > And many others stating pretty much the same thing, so one can’t even say it’s strictly US _in origin_. I should have said that the game is almost certainly US in origin. That is what the OED says. You can quote websites that suggest that the game came from Alsace and a game called “jucker” , but what you need to do is show a website that can offer some proof of this. I couldn’t find one. They all seem to copy off of each other. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/13 "2004-05-16T11:15:52Z")
I’m in Ohio, and not being able to play euchre can be a serious handicap to your social life here. I once stumbled across a Mark Twain story about a man who cheated at euchre. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/14 "2004-05-16T11:53:31Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I should have said that the game is almost certainly US in origin. That is what the OED says. You can quote websites that suggest that the game came from Alsace and a game called “jucker” , but what you need to do is show a website that can offer some proof of this. I couldn’t find one. They all seem to copy off of each other. I think the entent of Matho’s post was not about the game’s origin, but to counter the claim that it was played exclusively in the midwestern US. Several people have testified from personal experience to its popularity in eastern mainland canada. Is there anyone from britain who can offer similar testimony?? ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/15 "2004-05-16T17:42:58Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I should have said that the game is almost certainly US in origin. That is what the OED says. You can quote websites that suggest that the game came from Alsace and a game called “jucker” , but what you need to do is show a website that can offer some proof of this. I couldn’t find one. They all seem to copy off of each other. Well, “According to Hoyle” (or at least the copy of _Hoyle’s_ in the university library) euchre qua euchre originated in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. In that sense I suppose it originated in the US, but to me it lends quite a bit of credence to an Alsace pedigree. I wouldn’t say euchre is “strictly US” any more than I would say American Football is “strictly US” in origin, deriving as it did from older games in Britain. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/16 "2004-05-16T18:16:17Z")
> [@Mathochist](#): > > Well, “According to Hoyle” (or at least the copy of _Hoyle’s_ in the university library) euchre qua euchre originated in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. In that sense I suppose it originated in the US, but to me it lends quite a bit of credence to an Alsace pedigree. I wouldn’t say euchre is “strictly US” any more than I would say American Football is “strictly US” in origin, deriving as it did from older games in Britain. If you would, does that copy of “Hoyle” cite any evidence that the game originated in the “Pennsylvania Dutch country.” Not saying it didn’t, just would like to know how I can find out where that snippet came from originally. Finding original cites, footnotes, etc, is the key. I’m quite sure that the game, which is first cited in print from the 1840’s, was widely popular in the Northern Mid-US and Canada. And still is. IT quite possibly originated in Britain. I never heard of it until I moved to Ohio in 1971. Everyone here knows it as a child. I didn’t ever hear of it in Virginia/North Carolina in the 1950’s/60’s. I’m just looking for a print cite that would help tie it to somewhere other than the US in the first half of the 19th century or before. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/17 "2004-05-16T18:29:55Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > If you would, does that copy of “Hoyle” cite any evidence that the game originated in the “Pennsylvania Dutch country.” Not saying it didn’t, just would like to know how I can find out where that snippet came from originally. Finding original cites, footnotes, etc, is the key. > > I’m just looking for a print cite that would help tie it to somewhere other than the US in the first half of the 19th century or before. Unfortunately, I don’t recall specifically offhand, and the copy was noncirculating. _Hoyle_ specializes in rules more than history, so it’s not really the kind of thing that comes with footnotes. Then again, I’m astonished a Doper hasn’t heard of [_Hoyle’s Rules of Games_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0451204840/qid=1084731665/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/002-5643384-9184827?v=glance&s=books&n=507846), especially as “according to Hoyle” has become synonymous with authority on card games and, by generalization, in any field. To note the OED: > [@](#): > > The name of Edmond Hoyle (1672-1769), author of several works on card-games (the earliest, on whist, dated 1742): often cited typically for an authority on card-playing. > Phr. according to Hoyle, according to the highest authority, in accordance with strict rules. > > 1906 ‘O. HENRY’ Four Million (1916) 14 The financial loss of a dollar sixty-five, all so far fulfilled according to Hoyle. > 1945 A. A. OSTROW Compl. Card Player p. vii, It has been the custom to call books of rules on card and board games ‘Hoyles’, so that ‘according to Hoyle’ has come to mean ‘according to accepted rules’. > 1962 R. BARKER Clue for Murder v. 38 This one [sc. murder]'s right out of the book – strictly according to Hoyle. > 1965 J. M. CAIN Magician’s Wife (1966) xix. 147, I want our marriage to be strictly on the beam – the way it is in the books, absolutely according to Hoyle. > 1971 Melody Maker 21 Aug. 34/7 If everything goes according to Hoyle, I’ll go into semi-retirement there. Maybe we should start saying “According to Cece”. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/18 "2004-05-16T20:59:45Z")
> [@Mathochist](#): > > Unfortunately, I don’t recall specifically offhand, and the copy was noncirculating. _Hoyle_ specializes in rules more than history, so it’s not really the kind of thing that comes with footnotes. > > Then again, I’m astonished a Doper hasn’t heard of Hoyle’s Rules of Games, especially as “according to Hoyle” has become synonymous with authority on card games and, by generalization, in any field. If you mean than **I** haven’t heard of Hoyle, that would be incorrect. You were born in 1979. I was born in 1944. I perhaps knew of Hoyle a bit before you. It’s just that Hoyle forgot to include _euchre_ in some of his early editions. :smack: I can also access and copy/paste quotes from the OED to the site, as I often do. What you need to do to help the discussion is provide a cite which **pre-dates** the 1846 entry in the OED(1841 in the Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate–I’m not sure where _their_ cite is from, but I’ll email Joanne Despres and find out). If you can provide any contemporary(1800-1860) cites that indicates the game was European in origin, that would help. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/19 "2004-05-17T15:01:01Z")
When I first started reading this thread, I got to wondering – just what IS euchre? I had heard of the game, but I’ve never seen it played in either Louisiana or Mississippi. I Googled the rules, and see that euchre is basically spades played with the 2-8 of each suit left out of the deck. With each player holding five cards, euchre is very much like sped-up spades, except the trump suit is determined round by round. Also, in versions of spades I’ve played, two jokers are tacked on to the top of the trump suit (_viz_ spades), which simulates the use in euchre of common-colored jacks as the “bosses” of the trump suit. There’s a related card game played in rural Louisiana (and perhaps elsewhere) which is even more similar to euchre than spades is – the game of Pedro. Instead of common-colored jacks being the trump bosses, common-colored fives (the Pedros) rule in Pedro. Unlike euchre, in Pedro, the entire 52-card deck is dealt out. … So anyway, where is the “euchre line”? We’ve got an attestation of euchre being common at the Univ of Indiana. Is euchre played in Kentucky? Any further south? ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312/20 "2004-05-17T15:16:30Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > When I first started reading this thread, I got to wondering – just what IS euchre? I had heard of the game, but I’ve never seen it played in either Louisiana or Mississippi. > > I Googled the rules, and see that euchre is basically spades played with the 2-8 of each suit left out of the deck. With each player holding five cards, euchre is very much like sped-up spades, except the trump suit is determined round by round. Also, in versions of spades I’ve played, two jokers are tacked on to the top of the trump suit (_viz_ spades), which simulates the use in euchre of common-colored jacks as the “bosses” of the trump suit. > > There’s a related card game played in rural Louisiana (and perhaps elsewhere) which is even more similar to euchre than spades is – the game of Pedro. Instead of common-colored jacks being the trump bosses, common-colored fives (the Pedros) rule in Pedro. Unlike euchre, in Pedro, the entire 52-card deck is dealt out. > > … > > So anyway, where is the “euchre line”? We’ve got an attestation of euchre being common at the Univ of Indiana. Is euchre played in Kentucky? Any further south? Hmmm… sounds like you’ve got a fairly good understanding of the rules of euchre, except for perhaps the scoring system - I’m not certain what scoring is involved in spades. In euchre, the most important detail of scoring is to do with making three out of the five tricks… if the side that has made trumps can do this, they score a single point. If the opponents make three and thus prevent the makers from getting three, the opponents have ‘euchre-d’ the makers and score two points. If the makers manage to capture all five tricks, they score two points, and if a single player, making trump is confident in making all five tricks by himself, he can ‘go it alone’ (instruct his partner to fold up his cards and go it alone,) and if he takes all five it is worth four points to his side. (I’ve heard of variations where a defender can also ‘go it alone’ against a solo maker, scoring four points for the euchre.) Games are typically played up to ten points, with one player from each side keeping score using the two fives of a particular color (not used in play,) and using intricate patterns to display the score as the number of pips showing on the cards. (For instance, to indicate ‘two’, I might put the five of hearts face-down, crosswise on top of the two of diamonds so that two diamond pips show at the top of the card, but not the diamond pip in the center.) In general, it’s a fast and fun game with a decent opportunity for skill and a large element of chance in how the cards happen to deal out over any particular game. Sometimes you just can’t hold a bower to save your life. 😉 (BTW that reminds me. For anyone here who watches the show 24… anyone else suspect a euchre joke in the naming of Kiefer Sutherland’s character – Jack Bauer, with the last name pronounced Bower? 😃 ) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-euchre/245312.md?page=2)