place card

American

[pleys kahrd] / ˈpleɪs ˌkɑrd /

noun

a small card with the name of a guest on it, placed on the table, to indicate where the person should sit.

place card British

noun

a card placed on a dinner table before a seat, as at a formal dinner, indicating who is to sit there

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of place card

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Insert a place card into the top of a gorgeous red or golden pear, or hollow out a pumpkin and fill it with fresh florals for your centerpiece,” Gardner suggests.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 27, 2023

“The person in front of me posed for a picture, then grabbed a place card off a silver tray presented by a Marine in uniform.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 8, 2022

"Behind my place card was a card for Lois. We all cried. Thank you @stephanie_asher for a beautiful Thanksgiving."

From Fox News • Nov. 26, 2021

His friend across the table, whose place card read Petronilla de Meath, the victim of a fourteenth-century Irish witch hunt, smirked and shook his head in mock disapproval.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 21, 2018

I noticed a place card for Oprah Winfrey.

From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023