cardinal

See also: Cardinal

English

WOTD – 11 June 2006

Etymology

From French cardinal, from Latin cardinālis (“pertaining to a hinge, hence applied to that on which something turns or depends, important, principal, chief”), from cardō (“hinge”) + -ālis, adjectival suffix.

A cardinal.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑː.dɪ.nəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑɹdɪnəl/, /ˈkɑɹdnəl/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

Adjective

cardinal (comparative more cardinal, superlative most cardinal)

1. Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.

   a cardinal rule

   • 1613, Shakespeare, Henry VIII (play),

     But cardinal sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Sir Thomas Browne

     the cardinal intersections of the zodiac

   • (Can we date this quote?) Drayton

     Impudence is now a cardinal virtue.

2. (nautical) Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west).

   a cardinal mark

3. Describing a "natural" number used to indicate quantity (e.g., one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position.
4. Having a bright red color (from the color of a Catholic cardinal's cassock).

Translations

of fundamental importance

• Breton: pennañ (br)
• Bulgarian: главен (bg) (glaven), основен (bg) (osnoven)
• Catalan: cardinal (ca)
• Finnish: perus- (fi), pää-, emä-, peri-, kardinaali- (fi)
• French: cardinal (fr)
• German: grundsätzlich (de)
• Icelandic: höfuð-, aðal- (is), megin-, grundvallar- (prefix in a compound word)
• Interlingua: cardinal
• Irish: cairdinéalta
• Italian: cardinale (it)
• Japanese: 基本 (ja) (kihon)

• Persian: کاردینال‎‎ (fa), عدداصلی‎‎ (fa), اعداد اصلی‎‎, اصلی‎‎ (fa), اساسی‎‎ (fa)
• Polish: kardynalny (pl) m
• Portuguese: cardeal (pt), fundamental (pt), principal (pt)
• Romanian: cardinal (ro), fundamental (ro)
• Russian: гла́вный (ru) (glávnyj), основно́й (ru) (osnovnój), кардина́льный (ru) (kardinálʹnyj)
• Spanish: cardinal (es)
• Swahili: kadinoli (sw)
• Swedish: huvud- (sv), huvudsaklig (sv), främsta (sv), kardinal- (sv), avgörande (sv), väsentlig (sv)
• Turkish: mühim (tr), önemli (tr)
• Vietnamese: chính (vi), chủ yếu (vi), cốt yếu (vi)

of or relating to the cardinal directions

• Bulgarian: главен (bg) (glaven)
• Finnish: kardinaali- (fi)
• French: cardinal (fr)
• Portuguese: cardeal (pt)

• Romanian: cardinal (ro)
• Swahili: kadinoli (sw)
• Turkish: yönel, yönsel

describing a number that indicates quantity

• Armenian: քանակական (hy) (kʿanakakan)
• Bulgarian: числителен (čislitelen)
• Finnish: perus- (fi), kardinaali- (fi)
• French: cardinal (fr)
• German: grundsätzlich (de)
• Greek: απόλυτος (el) (apólytos)
• Interlingua: cardinal
• Italian: cardinale (it)
• Japanese: 基数 (ja) (きすう, kisū)
• Norman: cardinna (Jersey)

• Polish: kardynalny (pl) m
• Portuguese: cardeal (pt), cardinal (pt)
• Romanian: cardinal (ro)
• Russian: коли́чественный (ru) (kolíčestvennyj)
• Spanish: cardinal (es)
• Swahili: kadinoli (sw)
• Tagalog: paulat
• Turkish: asıl sayı
• Vietnamese: lượng (vi)

having a bright red color

• Bulgarian: яркочервен (jarkočerven)
• Finnish: kardinaalinpunainen
• French: rouge cardinal
• German: kardinalrot
• Icelandic: hárauður
• Irish: cairdinéalach

• Italian: cardinale (it)
• Polish: purpurowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: vermelho-cardeal
• Romanian: roșu purpuriu, roșu cardinal (ro)
• Swahili: kadinoli (sw)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} đỏ thắm

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} Kardinal

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} cairdinéalach

Noun

cardinal (plural cardinals)

1. A number indicating quantity, or the size of a set, e.g., one, two, three. (See Wikipedia article on Cardinal number.)
   • 1920, Bertrand Russell, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, p.83:

     This cardinal number is the smallest of the infinite cardinal numbers; it is the one to which Cantor has appropriated the Hebrew aleph with the suffix 0, to distinguish it from larger infinite cardinals. Thus the name of the smallest of infinite cardinals is ₀א.

2. (grammar) A word used to represent a cardinal number; a cardinal numeral.
   • 2005, Frederic M. Wheelock, Wheelock's Latin, 6th ed. revised, p.97:

     The commonest numerals in Latin, as in English, are the "cardinals" […] and the "ordinals" […].

3. An official in the Catholic Church, ranking only below the Pope and the patriarchs. (See Wikipedia article on Catholic cardinals.)
   • 1932, Maurice Baring, chapter 16, in Friday's Business:

     His uncle, a Cardinal, engages a Spanish youth of Moorish descent called Diego, an expert singer and player on the virginal, to unlock the secrets of the heart, […] and cure him by the spell of his music.

4. Any of a genus of songbirds of the finch family, Cardinalis.
5. Any of various related passerine birds of the family Cardinalidae (See Wikipedia article on cardinals) and other similar birds that were once considered to be related.
   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 24962326:

     Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

6. A shade of scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal's cassock.

   cardinal colour:  

7. (historical) A woman's short cloak with a hood.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Robert Lloyd

     Where's your cardinal! Make haste.

8. (obsolete) Mulled red wine.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Hotten to this entry?)

9. A freshwater fish, the cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi).

Derived terms

Terms derived from cardinal

• cardinalate
• cardinal bird
• cardinal concern
• cardinal fish
• cardinal flower

• cardinality
• cardinally
• cardinal number
• cardinal numeral
• cardinal point

• cardinalship
• cardinal spider
• cardinal symptom
• cardinal virtue
• cardinal vowels

• incardinate
• intersubcardinal
• postcardinal
• subcardinal
• supracardinal

Translations

number indicating quantity

• Armenian: քանակական թվական (hy) (kʿanakakan tʿvakan)
• Bulgarian: числително (bg) n (čislitelno)
• Dutch: hoofdtelwoord (nl) n
• Finnish: kardinaaliluku (fi), perusluku (fi)
• French: cardinal (fr)
• German: Grundzahl (de) f, Kardinalzahl (de) f
• Greek: απόλυτος αριθμός m (apólytos arithmós)
• Icelandic: frumtala (is) f
• Italian: numero cardinale (it) m
• Japanese: 基数 (ja) (きすう, kisū)
• Kurdish: (jimareyên) sade

• Latvian: kardināls
• Polish: ^{(please verify)} liczba główna f, ^{(please verify)} liczba kardynalna f
• Portuguese: cardinal (pt) m, número cardinal m
• Romanian: număr cardinal n
• Russian: коли́чественное числи́тельное (ru) n (kolíčestvennoje čislítelʹnoje)
• Slovene: kardinalno število n
• Spanish: número cardinal (es) m
• Swahili: kadinoli (sw)
• Turkish: asıl sayı
• Vietnamese: số lượng (vi)
• West Frisian: haadtelwurd (fy)

cardinal numeral — see cardinal numeral

official of the Catholic Church

• Bulgarian: кардинал m (kardinal)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 樞機主教 (zh), 枢机主教 (zh) (shūjī zhǔjiào)

• Czech: kardinál m
• Dutch: kardinaal (nl) m
• Finnish: kardinaali (fi)
• French: cardinal (fr) m
• German: Kardinal (de) m
• Greek: καρδινάλιος (el) m (kardinálios)
• Hungarian: bíboros (hu), kardinális, bíbornok
• Icelandic: kardináli (is) m
• Irish: cairdinéal m
• Italian: cardinale (it) m
• Japanese: 枢機卿 (sūki-kyō)
• Korean: 추기경 (ko) (chugigyeong)
• Kurdish: kardînal (ku), metran (ku)
• Luxembourgish: Kardinol m
• Maori: katinara

• Norman: cardinna m (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kardinal m

  Nynorsk: kardinal m

• Polish: kardynał (pl) m
• Portuguese: cardeal (pt) m
• Romanian: cardinal (ro) m
• Russian: кардина́л (ru) m (kardinál)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кардѝна̄л

  Roman: kardìnāl (sh) m

• Slovene: kardinal (sl) m
• Spanish: cardenal (es) m
• Swahili: kadinoli (sw)
• Swedish: kardinal (sv) c
• Tagalog: kardenal
• Turkish: kardinal (tr)
• Vietnamese: (đức) hồng y

bird of the genus Cardinalis

• Finnish: punakardinaali (fi)
• German: Kardinal (de) m
• Irish: éan síoliteach m, tanagair
• Navajo: tááʼyaʼniiltʼóshii
• Portuguese: cardeal (pt) m

• Russian: кардина́л (ru) m (kardinál)
• Spanish: cardenal (es) m
• Swahili: kadinoli (sw)
• Turkish: kardinal kuşu (tr)

any bird in family Cardinalidae

• Bulgarian: кардинал m (kardinal)
• Dutch: kardinaal (nl) m
• Finnish: kardinaali (fi)
• French: cardinal (fr) m
• German: Kardinal (de) m
• Italian: cardinale (it) m

• Polish: kardynał (pl) m
• Portuguese: cardeal (pt) m
• Russian: кардина́л (ru) m (kardinál)
• Spanish: cardenal (es) m
• Swahili: kadinoli (sw)

colour

• Bulgarian: яркочервен цвят (jarkočerven cvjat)
• Dutch: kardinaalrood (nl) n
• Finnish: kardinaalinpunainen
• French: rouge cardinal
• German: Kardinalrot n
• Icelandic: hárauður m
• Irish: dearg cairdinéalta m, cródhearg m

• Italian: rosso cardinale m
• Japanese: 緋色 (hiiro)
• Polish: purpura (pl) f
• Portuguese: vermelho-cardeal m
• Swahili: kadinoli (sw)
• Turkish: kardinal kırmızısı
• Vietnamese: (màu) đỏ thắm

woman's short cloak with a hood

mulled wine — see mulled wine

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Breton: (1) ^{(please verify)} niver pegementiñ, (2) ^{(please verify)} kardinal
• Interlingua: (1) ^{(please verify)} numero cardinal, (2,3) ^{(please verify)} cardinal

• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} cardinal (ro)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} chim hồng y

See also

• (reds) red; blood red, brick red, burgundy, cardinal, carmine, carnation, cerise, cherry, cherry red, Chinese red, cinnabar, claret, crimson, damask, fire brick, fire engine red, flame, flamingo, fuchsia, garnet, geranium, gules, hot pink, incarnadine, Indian red, magenta, maroon, misty rose, nacarat, oxblood, pillar-box red, pink, Pompeian red, poppy, raspberry, red violet, rose, rouge, ruby, ruddy, salmon, sanguine, scarlet, shocking pink, stammel, strawberry, Turkey red, Venetian red, vermillion, vinaceous, vinous, violet red, wine
• Contrast with ordinal (numbers)
• Card. (abbreviation)

Anagrams

• Clarinda

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cardinālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaʁ.di.nal/

Adjective

cardinal (feminine singular cardinale, masculine plural cardinaux, feminine plural cardinales)

1. Important; paramount.
2. (mathematics) cardinal.

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinaux)

1. (religion) cardinal.
2. Cardinal number.
3. Cardinal (bird).

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinal)

1. cardinal (color).

Further reading

• “cardinal” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Noun

cardinal m (invariable)

1. Apocopic form of cardinale

Anagrams

• calandri

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Middle French

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinauls)

1. (Christianity) cardinal.

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Portuguese

Adjective

cardinal m, f (plural cardinais, comparable)

1. cardinal (describing a number that indicates quantity)

Synonyms

• cardeal

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinais)

1. cardinal (number indicating quantity)
2. (typography) hash (the # symbol)

Synonyms

• cardeal

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French cardinal, Latin cardinālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kar.diˈnal/

Adjective

cardinal m, n (feminine singular cardinală, masculine plural cardinali, feminine and neuter plural cardinale)

1. principal, essential, fundamental

Declension

declension of cardinal

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	cardinal		cardinală	cardinali	cardinale
	definite	cardinalul		cardinala	cardinalii	cardinalele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	cardinal		cardinale	cardinali	cardinale
	definite	cardinalului		cardinalei	cardinalilor	cardinalelor

Synonyms

• capital, crucial, decisiv, esențial, fundamental

Derived terms

• numeral cardinal
• punct cardinal
• roșu cardinal, roșu-cardinal
• virtuți cardinale

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinali)

1. (religion) cardinal
2. cardinal (bird)
3. a variety of grape, cultivated for consumption

Declension

declension of cardinal

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) cardinal	cardinalul	(niște) cardinali	cardinalii
genitive/dative	(unui) cardinal	cardinalului	(unor) cardinali	cardinalilor
vocative	cardinalule		cardinalilor

Derived terms

• cardinalat
• cardinalist

References

• cardinal in DEX online - Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language), 2004-2018

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cardinālis, cardināli.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kardiˈnal/, [karðiˈnal]

Adjective

cardinal (plural cardinales)

1. cardinal (crucial, pivotal)

   Synonym: fundamental

2. cardinal (describing a number used to indicate quantity)

   Antonym: ordinal

Derived terms

• punto cardinal
• número cardinal
• virtud cardinal

Related terms

• cardenal

Further reading

• “cardinal” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.