tarot

noun

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

noun

1. 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))
2. a card in a tarot pack with distinctive symbolic design, such as the Wheel of Fortune

adjective

3. relating to tarot cards

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.