Common Euchre Terms

Home Academy Basics Common Euchre Terms

The good news? Once you understand the vocabulary, Euchre will feel far less intimidating. Below, you’ll find a complete list of common Euchre terms, grouped into categories, each explained with examples from real gameplay.

1. Players and Setup

Dealer

The player who shuffles and deals out the cards. The dealer always has the final say in the bidding round.

Example: If everyone passes during bidding, the dealer has the last chance to accept or pass – and may even be forced to choose if “Stick the Dealer” is in play.

Partner

Your teammate, who sits across the table from you. Euchre is played with four players in two teams of two. Success often depends on reading your partner’s signals and working together.

Example: If your partner leads trump early, they may be signaling that they want to draw out opponents’ trump cards.

Kitty

The four undealt cards placed in the center after dealing. The top card of the kitty is turned face-up to start the bidding.

Example: If the top card in the kitty is the Jack of hearts, hearts may become trump if someone orders it up.

2. Suits and Card Rankings

Trump

Each hand has one trump suit that outranks all others. No matter what rank they are, trump cards will beat any card from a non-trump suit.

Example: If spades are trump, even the 9 of spades beats the Ace of hearts.

Right Bower

The single strongest card in the game. It’s always the Jack of the trump suit.

Example: If clubs are trump, the Jack of clubs is the right bower and cannot be beaten by any other card.

Left Bower

The second-strongest card in Euchre. It’s the Jack of the same color as trump, which counts as a trump card for the hand.

Example: If hearts are trump, the Jack of diamonds is the left bower and is stronger than the Ace of hearts.

Standard Suits

The rest of the cards – Ace, King, Queen, 10, and 9 – follow normal high-to-low order unless trump changes their power.

Example: In a non-trump suit like diamonds, the Ace of diamonds is stronger than the King of diamonds, but both lose to even the lowest trump.

3. Bidding

Order It Up

During the first round of bidding, if you want the face-up card in the kitty to become trump, you “order it up”. The dealer must then take that card into their hand and discard one.

Example: If the upcard is the 10 of spades and you already hold the Jack and Ace of spades, you’ll likely order it up to make spades trump.

Going Alone

When a player decides to play without their partner for a hand. The partner sits out, and the lone player tries to win all (or most) of the tricks for extra points.

Example: If you’re dealt the right bower, left bower, Ace, King, and Queen of trump, you might go alone to try for 4 points.

Stick the Dealer

A common variation where the dealer is forced to pick trump if everyone else passes. It prevents too many hands from being thrown in.

Example: If no one chooses trump in either bidding round, the dealer must pick a suit, even with a weak hand.

4. The Play of the Hand

Trick

A single round of play where each player puts down one card. The highest card in the lead suit wins unless a trump is played, in which case the highest trump wins. Each hand has five tricks.

Example: If the lead is the Ace of clubs and no one plays trump, the Ace of clubs wins. If someone plays the 9 of trump, even that low trump beats the Ace of clubs.

Lead

The first card played in a trick. All other players must follow suit if they have a card of that suit.

Example: If the first player leads with a diamond, everyone else must play a diamond if possible. If you don’t have one, you can play trump or discard another suit.

March

When the team that made trump wins all five tricks. This scores them 2 points instead of 1.

Example: You and your partner call spades as trump and sweep all five tricks – that’s a march.

Farmer’s Hand

A very weak hand, usually made up of only 9s and 10s. Some house rules allow you to ask for a redeal if you have such a hand, though not all groups use this rule.

Example: Being dealt five low cards with no trump potential is a classic farmer’s hand.

5. Scoring

Euchred

When the team that called trump fails to win at least three tricks. In that case, the defending team scores 2 points.

Example: If your team calls trump but only wins two tricks, you’ve been euchred.

Points

The way score is tracked in Euchre.

• 1 point: Calling team wins 3 or 4 tricks.
• 2 points: Calling team wins all 5 tricks (a march).
• 2 points: Defenders euchre the calling team.
• 4 points: A lone player wins all 5 tricks.

Example: If you call trump and win four tricks, your team earns 1 point.

The more you play, the more natural these terms will feel – and before long, you’ll find yourself speaking the language of Euchre as confidently as any veteran at the table.