Spade Symbol ♠

One of the four suits in a typical deck of playing cards is the spade suit, which is frequently represented by the symbol. ♠  Along with the suits of hearts, diamonds, and clubs, the spade suit has a long history and significant symbolism. We will look at the meaning, background, and cultural implications of the spade suit in the world of playing cards in this article.

The Meaning Behind the Spade Suit

  • Conflict and Warfare: The idea of conflict and warfare is frequently connected with the spade suit. The symbol itself has the appearance of a pointed weapon or a trench-digging spade. The spade suit has earned a reputation as a representation of conflict and rivalry as a result of this imagery.
  • Royalty and Strength: The highest-ranking cards, like the king of spades, are frequently regarded as some of the deck's strongest cards. The spade suit is frequently linked to aristocracy, power, and nobility.
  • Death and Mortality: The spade suit has been associated with the concepts of mortality and death in some cultures. The suit has been seen as a reminder of life's transience due to its dark color and sharp shape.

History of the Spade Suit

Like the other three suits, the spade suit has a long history:

  • Origins: The 15th-century Italian and Spanish playing card decks are most likely where the spade suit first appeared. The suits in these early decks represented swords, cups, coins, and batons; later, these suits changed to represent spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs.
  • French Influence: French playing cards are where the modern spade suit and the other suits got their start. The norm for playing cards in Europe and the Americas was French decks.
  • A standard deck of playing cards is said to have four suits, each of which represents a different aspect of life. In this context, spades stand for the military and life's challenges.

Use in Popular Card Games

Popular card games like: feature a significant role for the spade suit.

  • Spades: The spade suit is prominently displayed in this trick-taking game, which is renowned for its strategic and competitive nature. To complete their bid, players try to avoid specific cards and win tricks.
  • The spade suit is one of the four major suits in the card game bridge. To win tricks and complete the game's goals, careful planning and strategy are necessary.

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Spade Symbol Information

Symbol Name Spade
Unicode Version 1.1 (June 1993)
Unicode U+2660
CSS Code \2660
HTML Entity ♠
Hex Code ♠
HTML Code ♠
Latex \ding{171}
Alt Code 6

Spade Symbol Encoding

UTF-8 0xE2 0x99 0xA0
UTF-16 0x2660
UTF-32 0x00002660


Spade symbol's PNG and SVG files


How to type spade symbol in latex

Copy \documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pifont}
\begin{document}
\ding{171}
\end{document}

How to add spade symbol via keyboard on different Operating systems

You can type the spade on most modern devices with the help of following methods:

How to type spade symbol on Microsoft Word

You can type the spade on microsoft Microsoft Word using steps mentioned below:

  • Place your cursor in the text area where you need to insert the symbol and type 2 6 6 0
  • Without moving the cursor press keys Alt + x together
  • The original 2 6 6 0 is now transformed into ♠

How to type spade symbol on Microsoft Windows

You can type the spade on Microsoft windows using following steps:

  • Hold Alt and press 6 to type spade on your windows machine.

How to type spade symbol on Mac OS

You can type the spade on Mac OS using following steps:

  • Place your cursor in the text area where you need to insert the symbol
  • Press Ctrl + ⌘ Command + ⎵ Space to bring up the Character Viewer. Alternatively, choose Edit ⇒ Emoji & Symbols
  • Type “Spade” in the search field at the top and press Enter
  • The symbol should appear. Click on it to insert it into your text
  • How to type spade symbol on Mac OS
    How to type spade symbol on Mac OS

How to type spade symbol on Linux

You can type the spade on Linux using following steps:

  • Place your cursor in the text area where you need to insert the symbol
  • Hold ⇧ Shift + Ctrl and press the letter + U
  • Press keys 2 6 6 0 consecutively
  • And then press ↵ Enter , the desired symbol will be added to your document

How to type spade symbol on IOS and Android

The easiest way to type the spade on ios and android is to copy and paste it wherever you need it.


How to use spade in CSS

Copy // css example
span {
content: "\2660";
}

How to type spade in HTML

Copy // html example
<span>&#9824;</span>

Spade symbol representation in programming languages

spade's representation in different programming languages can be found in table below:

Language Representation
Rust \u{2660}
Ruby \u{2660}
Python \u2660
PHP \u{2660}
Perl "\x{2660}"
Java \u2660
Modern JavaScript - Since ES6 \u{2660}
JavaScript \u2660
Go \u2660
C# \u2660
C and C++ \u2660
Bash and Zsh - inside echo -e \u2660
RFC 5137 \u'2660'
No Result
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