What does "canasta" mean?

A card game similar to rummy and played using two packs, where the object is to meld groups of the same rank.

What is a synonym for "canasta"?

Common synonyms include: basket rummy, blackjack, bridge, game, meld.

//kəˈnæstə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A card game similar to rummy and played using two packs, where the object is to meld groups of the same rank. uncountable
"“Do you know something, Fred?” she announced, “I won four dollars and eighty-five cents playing Canasta this afternoon.” “Canasta!” exclaimed Mr. Grimes, “I didn′t know you could play that silly game.”"
2
a form of rummy using two decks of cards and four jokers; jokers and deuces are wild; the object is to form groups of the same rank wordnet
3
A meld of seven cards in a game of canasta. countable
"Groups of seven of a kind are called canastas, and before a player can go out he or his partner must have at least one canasta."

"Tom and Mary are playing Canasta."

From Spanish canasta. The game originates from Uruguay.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.