Euchre terms and slang

Bower, kitty, march, next, crossing the suit, at the bridge, donation, farmer's hand. Every euchre term you will hear at a table, defined in one place.

The right bower is the jack of trump and the highest card. The left bower is the other jack of the same color and counts as trump. The kitty is the four undealt cards, a march is all five tricks, and being euchred is failing to take three tricks after naming trump.

Last updated 2026-09-06

Euchre carries a lot of slang, and most of it never gets explained to you. Here it is. Definitions follow the Official Rules of Common North American Euchre, with house rule terms marked as such.

The cards

Bower. A jack that is trump. From the German Bauer, meaning farmer or peasant, the name for the jack in German card games.

Right bower. The jack of the trump suit. The highest card in the game.

Left bower. The other jack of the same color as trump. It becomes trump for the hand and is the second highest card. If hearts are trump, the jack of diamonds is a heart.

Trump. The suit that outranks all others for a hand, set either by accepting the turn up card or by naming a suit in round two.

Suit. One of the four categories of cards. In euchre one suit is chosen as trump each hand and beats cards from every other suit.

Void. Having no cards of a suit, which is what lets you trump in when that suit is led.

Pips. The suit symbols on the face of a card. Traditional score keeping counts the pips left showing on two spare cards.

The deal

Kitty. The four undealt cards. Also called the blind, the widow or the talon.

Turn-up card. The top card of the kitty, turned face up as the round one proposal. Also called the upcard.

Turn it down. Decline the turn up card as trump, which happens before the second round of bidding.

Hand. One complete round of euchre, from the deal through all five tricks.

Round. One full pass of players choosing to order up or pass, starting to the dealer's left.

Dealer. The player who deals. The deal rotates clockwise after each hand.

Packets. The two and three, or three and two, groups a euchre hand is dealt in. The dealer picks one and sticks with it for the hand, and no other method is allowed.

The bidding

Order it up. Tell the dealer to pick up the turn up card, making its suit trump. Said by anyone other than the dealer.

Take it up. What the dealer says when they accept the turn up card themselves, picking it up and discarding.

Assist. Ordering it up when the dealer is your partner, so you are handing them a card rather than an opponent.

Maker. The player who names trump. Their team owes three tricks.

Pass. Decline to name trump. If all players pass twice and stick the dealer is not in play, the hand is re-dealt.

Next. The other suit of the same color as the card that was turned down. Calling next in round two is a real strategy: the bowers of that suit are more likely to still be scattered, because nobody ordered up the first one. See euchre strategy.

Cross the suit. Naming a suit of the opposite color to the turned down card. Weaker than calling next, for the same reason. The two opposite color suits are sometimes called the green suits.

Stick the dealer. The regional rule that the dealer may not pass in round two. See stick the dealer.

Donation. Ordering up trump on a bad hand on purpose, usually when the other team is one point from winning, accepting a 2 point euchre instead of letting them win.

Playing

Trick. One round of four cards, one from each player. Five tricks per hand.

Lead. The first card played in a trick. The player to the dealer's left leads the first one, unless someone is going alone and that changes who is active.

Follow suit. Play a card of the suit that was led, which you must do if you can.

Trumping in / ruffing. Playing trump when you cannot follow suit.

Overtrump. Playing a higher trump than one already in the trick.

Winning the trick. The highest card of the led suit takes it, unless trump was played, in which case the highest trump takes it.

Renege / revoke. Failing to follow suit when you could have. The opposing team gets 2 points.

The result

March. Taking all five tricks. Two points for a team, four for a lone hand.

Euchre, or bump. Taking fewer than three tricks as the maker. The defenders score 2. The verb is to be euchred, and it is the worst thing that can happen to you at a card table.

Lone hand, loner, going alone. Playing the hand without your partner, for four points if you sweep all five. You need at least one trump card in hand to declare it.

At the bridge. One point from winning, so 9 points in a 10 point game.

In the barn. The same thing, said in different regions.

House rule terms

These are not in the official rules, but you will hear them:

Farmer's hand. A hand with no ace and no face card, sometimes defined precisely as three nines and two tens. Depending on the house, the holder may swap three cards with the kitty or force a redeal. Also called bogus, benny, or no ace no face.

Canadian loner. A lone player takes their partner's best card, or plays the partner's hand as a dummy. It removes most of the risk of a loner, which is why plenty of tables refuse to play it.

Defensive loner. A defender goes alone against a lone maker.

Luke Deal. A dealing mode on this site, where the first round gives the dealer's team four cards each and the opponents one, and the second round reverses it. It is a joke between friends rather than a rule, and it is the one thing here the official rulebook would not allow.

FAQ

Why are jacks called bowers in euchre?

From the German Bauer, meaning farmer or peasant, the name for the jack in German card games. Euchre descends from European games including the Alsatian Juckerspiel, and the word came with it.

What is the next suit in euchre?

The suit of the same color as the card that was turned down. If a diamond was turned down, hearts are next. Calling next in round two is strong because the bowers of that suit are likely still out.

What does crossing the suit mean?

Naming a trump suit of the opposite color to the turned down card. If spades were turned down, crossing means calling hearts or diamonds rather than clubs.

What does it mean to donate in euchre?

To order up trump on a hand you know you will lose, giving away 2 points on purpose, because the alternative is letting an opponent one point from winning call a suit and take the game.

What does at the bridge mean?

A team is at the bridge when it needs one more point to win. In a 10 point game that is 9 points. Other regions call it being in the barn.