minor suit

6.9

A suit worth fewer points in bridge, like diamonds or clubs

noun

Jargon

: palo menor

Clubs and diamonds are each considered a minor suit in the rules of bridge.

Examples

In bridge, bidding a minor suit can help you find a safe contract.
She held only low cards in the minor suit and decided not to bid.
A minor suit is less valuable than a major suit.
The minor suits are diamonds and clubs.
In the game of bridge, clubs and diamonds are classified as a minor suit because they have lower scoring values.
When playing bridge, a player might choose to bid on a minor suit if their hand does not contain any major cards.
Understanding that clubs and diamonds are minor suits helps new players strategize their bids in bridge.

Antonyms

major suit

Jargon

8.1

A suit worth more points, spades or hearts

Surface Forms

minor suit singular

minor suits plural

Morphology

minor + suit

The meaning is directly compositional: 'minor' = less important/less valuable and 'suit' = a card suit, so 'minor suit' straightforwardly denotes a suit of lower value (diamonds or clubs in bridge). Though the term is domain-specific to card games, the relation between constituents follows ordinary adjective + noun composition and would be clear to a B1 learner who knows both words and basic card terminology.

Etymology

Minor suit is a bridge term for the clubs and diamonds. These two suits give fewer points than the 'major' suits, so they were called minor, meaning smaller, and the word suit refers to a group of cards, which is why the phrase means a lower-scoring suit in the game.