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cardinal

car·din·alUK /ˈkɑːd(ɪ)nəl/adjective, noun

cardinal is spelled C-A-R-D-I-N-A-L: 8 letters and 3 syllables (car·din·al). It appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, cardinal means “Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in cardinal?

Letters8: C-A-R-D-I-N-A-L
Syllables3: car·din·al
In writing7.9 times per million words; the 8,266th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is cardinal?

Cardinal appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce cardinal?

  • UK /ˈkɑːd(ɪ)nəl/
  • UK [ˈkʰɑːd(ɪ)nəl] ~ [ˈkʰɑːd(ɪ)nl̩]
  • Australia /ˈkɑːd(ɪ)nəl/

Cardinal has 3 syllables, split car·din·al in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-cardinal.ogg, En-us-cardinal.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of cardinal

  • more cardinal comparative
  • most cardinal superlative
  • cardinals plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does cardinal mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.

    a cardinal rule

  2. 2

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

    a cardinal mark

  3. 3

    Describing a “natural” number used to indicate quantity (e.g., zero, one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position.

  4. 4

    Having a bright red color (from the color of a Catholic cardinal’s cassock).

  5. 5

    Being one of the signs Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, associated with initiation, creation, and force.

noun

  1. 1

    One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope, equal to the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope.

  2. 2

    Any of various species of New-World passerine songbird in the genus Cardinalis, or in the family Cardinalidae more generally, or of similar appearance and once considered to be related to the former; so called because of their red plumage. (See Wikipedia article for taxonomical information.)

  3. 3

    A deep red color, somewhat less vivid than scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal's cassock. (same as cardinal red)

  4. 4

    Ellipsis of cardinal number, a number indicating quantity, or the size of a set (e.g., 0, 1, 2, 3). (See Cardinal_number.)

  5. 5

    Ellipsis of cardinal numeral, a word used to represent a cardinal number.

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

  6. 6

    Ellipsis of cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), a flowering plant.

  7. 7

    Ellipsis of cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi), a freshwater fish.

  8. 8

    A woman's short cloak with a hood, originally made of scarlet cloth.

noun

as Cardinal
  1. 1

    A player on the St. Louis Cardinals team.

    Smith became a Cardinal as the result of a pre-season trade.

  2. 2

    A player on the Arizona Cardinals team.

  3. 3

    A student or player on a sports team at the University of Louisville.

  4. 4

    A player on a sports team at Stanford University.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate cardinal?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of cardinal: card.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Cardinal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcardinal (of fundamental importance), rouge cardinal (having a bright red color)
Germangrundsätzlich (of fundamental importance), kardinalrot (having a bright red color), Grundzahl, Kardinalzahl (number indicating quantity), Kardinal (official of the Catholic Church), Kardinalrot (colour)
Portuguesecardeal, fundamental, principal (of fundamental importance), número cardinal (number indicating quantity), vermelho-cardeal (colour), cardinal (describing a number that indicates quantity)
Spanishcardinal (of fundamental importance), número cardinal (number indicating quantity), cardenal (official of the Catholic Church)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does cardinal come from?

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

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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