Carte

Carte is a French noun with several related senses that English speakers encounter in loan phrases and in French usage. The word comes from Latin carta, via Old French carte, and means sheet of paper, card, or map, depending on context.

In its oldest sense, carte refers to a map or chart. In French, "carte" commonly designates a map of a region, a city, or a chart, and is used in phrases such as carte routière (road map) or carte géographique. In English, the geographic sense appears mainly in loan terms and proper names, with "carte" retained in some specialized or historical expressions.

Carte also means a card of any kind. It can denote playing cards (carte à jouer), a credit or debit card (carte bancaire, carte de crédit), or an identification card (carte d'identité). In everyday French, "carte" is a generic word for a flat object that bears information or value, such as a ticket, a loyalty card, or a membership card.

Another common sense is related to meals. In restaurants, "à la carte" refers to individual dishes selected from the menu rather than a fixed, set menu. The term can also appear on menus simply as "carte," indicating the available dishes separate from a fixed menu.

Phrases such as "carte blanche" (a blank card, i.e., unlimited authority) and "carte d'alimentation" (food card) illustrate the wideness of the term in French. In English, "carte blanche" is the most widely used loan phrase; other uses are typically English speakers using the French word within varied contexts.