Bridge terminology glossary for beginners

Bridge comes with a vocabulary that sounds like a foreign language at first. This glossary covers the terms you’ll actually need at the table, not every piece of bridge jargon ever coined, just the ones that come up in the first weeks of learning. (If you’re brand new, start with our getting started guide and come back here when terms confuse you.)

The basics

Auction: The bidding phase of a bridge hand. Four players take turns making bids or passing. The auction determines the final contract.

Bid: A call that names a number of tricks and a denomination (e.g., 1♠, 2NT, 4♥). Bids must be higher than the previous bid.

Book: The first six tricks a partnership must win before scoring begins. “Book” is why a 1♠ contract actually means seven tricks: book (6) plus one.

Call: Anything a player says during the auction: a bid, pass, double, or redouble.

Contract: The final bid when the auction ends. States how many tricks the declaring side has agreed to win and in which denomination.

Deal: One complete hand of bridge: dealing the cards, auctioning, playing the tricks, and scoring.

Declarer: The player who first bid the denomination in the final contract. Declarer plays both their own hand and the dummy.

Denomination: The suit or notrump named in a bid.

Double: A call that increases the scoring stakes. Can be used as a penalty (punishing opponents for a bad contract) or as a takeout double (asking partner to pick a suit).

Dummy: The declarer’s partner. After the opening lead, dummy places their cards face-up on the table. Declarer then plays both hands.

HCP (High Card Points): A numerical measure of hand strength. Ace=4, King=3, Queen=2, Jack=1. Full deck = 40 HCP.

Level: The number of tricks above “book” a contract requires. Level 1 = 7 tricks, Level 4 = 10 tricks, Level 7 = 13 tricks (a grand slam).

Opening bid: The first bid (not a pass) in an auction.

Opening lead: The first card played, by the defender to declarer’s left.

Pass: Declining to bid. Three consecutive passes after a bid ends the auction.

Suit: One of the four groups in a standard deck: spades (♠), hearts (♥), diamonds (♦), clubs (♣).

Trick: Four cards played in turn (one per player, clockwise). The highest card in the led suit wins, unless a trump is played.

Hand evaluation

Balanced hand: A hand without extreme distributions. Usually means no suit longer than five cards and no suit shorter than two cards. 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, and 5-3-3-2 shapes are considered balanced.

Distribution: How the 13 cards in a hand are divided among the four suits. “5-4-3-1 distribution” means five cards in one suit, four in another, three in another, one in the last.

Fit: When partners hold eight or more cards in a suit between them. An eight-card fit is usually enough to name that suit as trumps.

Long suit: A suit with four or more cards. Useful for establishing tricks and as a potential trump suit.

Void: No cards at all in a suit. Useful in a trump contract because you can ruff immediately.

Singleton: Exactly one card in a suit.

Doubleton: Exactly two cards in a suit.

Bidding terms

Forcing bid: A bid that requires partner to bid again. Partner is not allowed to pass a forcing bid.

Game: A contract that earns a game bonus when made. Game-level contracts: 3NT (9 tricks), 4♥ or 4♠ (10 tricks), 5♣ or 5♦ (11 tricks).

Invitational bid: A bid that suggests game if partner has extra strength, but allows partner to pass with a minimum.

Notrump (NT): A contract played without trumps. High cards alone determine who wins each trick.

Overcall: A bid made after an opponent has already opened the bidding.

Preempt: A bid that takes up opponents’ bidding space, typically made with a long suit and a weak hand. A 3♥ opening is a preempt.

Slam: A high-level contract. Small slam = 12 tricks (6♥, 6NT, etc.), earns a large bonus. Grand slam = all 13 tricks (7-level), earns an even larger bonus.

Takeout double: A double made in a low-level auction that asks partner to bid their best suit, not to pass. Common usage: “I doubled their 1♠ for takeout.”

Card play terms

Entry: A card that wins a trick in a particular hand, allowing that hand to lead next. Important for getting to the dummy at the right time.

Finesse: A play to win a trick with a card that isn’t the highest in its suit, by leading toward it. Example: lead low toward ♥AQ, hoping the king is on your right.

Follow suit: Play a card in the same suit that was led. Mandatory if you have one.

Ruff: Play a trump card on a trick when you have no cards in the led suit. Winning that trick with a trump.

Revoke (Renege): Failing to follow suit when you could have. A penalty offense.

Side suit: Any suit that isn’t trumps.

Slam: Winning 12 (small slam) or all 13 (grand slam) tricks.

Trump: The suit named in the contract (if not notrump). Trump cards beat all cards in other suits.

Scoring terms

Overtrick: A trick won beyond what the contract required. Worth points but less than the contract itself.

Undertrick: A trick short of the contract. Costs the declaring side points (paid to opponents).

Vulnerable: A designation in duplicate or rubber bridge that increases both bonuses and penalties. When your side is vulnerable, the stakes are higher.

When you need more

This covers the basics. As you play more, you’ll encounter conventions (Stayman, Blackwood, Jacoby Transfers) and more advanced concepts (squeezes, endplays, signals). Those get their own articles in the encyclopedia. For the full learning roadmap, see our learn bridge guide.

If a term comes up at the table that isn’t here, write it down and look it up afterward, or ask Brian what it means and how it applies to the hand you just played.