So, the other day I was messing around, thinking about tarot, you know, the cards. And it struck me, what other words do people actually use for it in English? It’s usually just “tarot,” right? But I got curious if there were synonyms, like different ways to talk about it without always saying “tarot cards.”
My first move was pretty basic. I just opened up my computer and started searching online. Didn’t really have a specific plan, just typed in stuff like “other words for tarot” or “synonyms for tarot cards.”
It wasn’t exactly a flood of alternatives, to be honest. A lot of the results just talked about tarot itself, or different types of decks. But I did sift through a few pages and picked out some words that popped up.
Here’s what I gathered:
- Tarot deck: Okay, this one’s obvious, just specifies it’s the deck of cards.
- The cards: People often just say “reading the cards” or “consulting the cards.” Simple, gets the point across.
- Divination cards: This one sounds a bit more formal, maybe? But it fits, since tarot is used for divination.
- Fortune-telling cards: Similar to divination cards, pretty straightforward. Tells you what people use them for.
- Cartomancy: This word came up a few times. It means using cards for fortune-telling in general, so tarot fits under this umbrella. Sounds a bit old-fashioned to me, but accurate.
- Oracle cards: Now, this one’s tricky. Some people use “oracle cards” interchangeably, but technically they’re often different systems with different structures than the traditional 78-card tarot deck. Still, sometimes people lump them together, especially when talking generally about card readings.
Honestly? There weren’t as many direct synonyms as I thought there might be. “Tarot” itself is pretty specific. Most alternatives describe what the cards do (divination, fortune-telling) or refer to them generally (“the cards,” “deck”). “Cartomancy” is maybe the closest proper synonym for the practice, but not exactly for the cards themselves.
So yeah, that was my little exploration. Didn’t uncover any secret, long-lost words for tarot, but it was interesting to see how people refer to it. Mostly, it seems, we just stick with calling it tarot. Simple enough!
