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tarot

[tar-oh, ta-roh]

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noun

any of a set of 22 playing cards bearing allegorical representations, used for fortunetelling and as trump cards in tarok.

Origin of tarot

1590–1600; back formation from taros (plural) < Middle French < Italian tarocchi, plural of tarocco

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tarot

Contemporary Examples of tarot

Dusty books, smoking pipes, tarot cards, and a Ouija board fill the antique furniture positioning any object as a clue.
Escape the Room—New York's Hottest Game
Justin Jones
September 15, 2014
Kanye West gets his tarot cards read by a radical Chilean filmmaker is practically a fully formed SNL sketch.
Kanye West’s Insane Week: Bonnaroo Rants and the Instagram Wedding Photo
Amy Zimmerman
June 18, 2014
Lennon and Ono made many decisions based on astrology and the reading of tarot cards.
How John Lennon Rediscovered His Music in Bermuda
The Telegraph
November 3, 2013
Mama Donna, Urban Shaman I did a tarot card reading for Tiger.
Where in the World Is Tiger?
The Daily Beast
January 5, 2010

Historical Examples of tarot

This is recalled in the Atout of the Tarot pack, named Justice.
Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards
Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer
The oldest specimens of Tarot cards are not later than 1440.
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot
L. W. de Laurence
Amongst the plates there is a monogram of the Gnosis, which is also that of the Tarot.
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot
L. W. de Laurence
The Tarot is said to have originated in India, whence it passed to Egypt.
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot
L. W. de Laurence
It is interesting, however, as containing the writer's first reveries on the Tarot.
The Illustrated Key to the Tarot
L. W. de Laurence

British Dictionary definitions for tarot

tarot

noun

one of a special pack of cards, now used mainly for fortune-telling, consisting of 78 cards (4 suits of 14 cards each (the minor arcana), and 22 other cards (the major arcana))

a card in a tarot pack with distinctive symbolic design, such as the Wheel of Fortune

adjective

relating to tarot cards

Word Origin for tarot

C16: from French, from Old Italian tarocco, of unknown origin

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

Word Origin and History for tarot

n.

1590s, from French tarot (16c.), from Old Italian tarocchi (plural), of unknown origin, perhaps from Arabic taraha "reject." The deck first used in Italy 14c., as playing cards as well as for fortune-telling. The tarots, strictly speaking, are the 22 figured cards added to the 56-card suits pack.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper