Deck
/dɛk/noun
A covering, a floor-like platform, or the surface of a ship; also, a set of playing cards.
Did you know?The card-game sense of deck may come from the idea of a “pack” of cards being laid out like a covering, but the ship meaning is older and comes from a Germanic word for “roof” or “cover.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*þaką
“roof, covering”
Old High German
OHG
dach
“roof, cover”
Middle Dutch
MDu
dec
“covering, roof”
15th Century
English
dek
“a covering or cloth”
16th Century
English
deck
“the floor of a ship; later, a set of cards”
Modern English
English
deck
“a ship’s platform, a pack of cards, or a decorative covering”