atout

Atout is a French noun with two principal senses. In everyday French, it means advantage, asset, or something that gives a person or group an edge. Common phrases include avoir un atout (to have an advantage) and un atout de taille (a major asset). The plural atouts is used across contexts such as business, sports, and rhetoric.

In card games, atout designates the trump suit or a card that can win regardless of the lead suit. In trick-taking games such as belote and tarot, the atout is central to bidding and play; the suit designated as atout outranks other suits for the duration of the round, and specific rules govern the value and behavior of individual atout cards. The concept shapes strategy, as controlling the atout can influence the outcome of tricks and contracts.

Etymology and usage: The word comes from French, where its core sense is value or asset. In English-language writing, atout appears mainly in discussions of French card games or as a borrowed term when describing atout concepts; it is typically defined by context rather than as an independent English term.

See also: belote, tarot, trump (card games), advantage, asset.