different between key vs cardinal

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: k?, IPA^(key): /ki?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ki/
• IPA^(key): [?k??i?]
• Rhymes: -i?
• Homophones: cay, quay

Etymology 1

From Middle English keye, kaye, kei?e, from Old English c??, c??e, c?ga (“key, solution, experiment”) (whence also Scots key and kay (“key”)), of uncertain origin. Related to Old English c?ggian (“to lock, shut”). The only sure cognates are Saterland Frisian Koai (“key”), West Frisian kaai (“key”), and North Frisian kay (“key”). Possibly from Proto-Germanic *k?gaz, *k?guz (“stake, post, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *?og?-, *?eg?-, *?eg?n- (“branch, stake, bush”), which would make it cognate with Middle Low German k?k (“whipping post, pillory”), and perhaps to Middle Dutch keige (“javelin, spear”) and Middle Low German keie, keige (“spear”). For the semantic development, note that medieval keys were simply long poles (ending in a hook) with which a crossbar obstructing a door from the inside could be removed from the outside, by lifting it through a hole in the door. Liberman has noted, however, "The original meaning of *kaig-jo- was presumably '*pin with a twisted end.' Words with the root *kai- followed by a consonant meaning 'crooked, bent; twisted' are common only in the North Germanic languages."

Noun

key (plural keys)

1. An object designed to open and close a lock.
2. An object designed to fit between two other objects (such as a shaft and a wheel) in a mechanism and maintain their relative orientation.
3. A crucial step or requirement.

   • Those who are accustomed to reason have got the true key of books.

   • who keeps the keys of all the creeds

4. A guide explaining the symbols or terminology of a map or chart; a legend.

5. A guide to the correct answers of a worksheet or test.

6. (computing) One of several small, usually square buttons on a typewriter or computer keyboard, mostly corresponding to text characters.

7. (music)
   1. In musical instruments, one of the valve levers used to select notes, such as a lever opening a hole on a woodwind.
   2. In instruments with a keyboard such as an organ or piano, one of the levers, or especially the exposed front end of it, which are depressed to cause a particular sound or note to be produced.
8. (music)
   1. The lowest note of a scale; keynote.
   2. In musical theory, the total melodic and harmonic relations, which exist between the tones of an ideal scale, major or minor; tonality.
   3. In musical theory and notation, the tonality centering in a given tone, or the several tones taken collectively, of a given scale, major or minor.
   4. In musical notation, a sign at the head of a staff indicating the musical key.
   • 1881, R.L. Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:

     A girl, it is true, has always lived in a glass house among reproving relatives, whose word was law; she has been bred up to sacrifice her judgments and take the key submissively from dear papa; and it is wonderful how swiftly she can change her tune into the husband's.

9. (figuratively) The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
   • ?, William Cowper, Conversation

     You fall at once into a lower key.

10. (advertising) A modification of an advertisement so as to target a particular group or demographic.
    • 1998, Mail Order Success Secrets

      Another popular way to key ads and mailings is to use a suite number, room number, department number, desk number, etc. as part of the ordering address. With a classified ad, using such a key may increase your ad cost.

11. (botany) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, such as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara.
12. (historical) A manual electrical switching device primarily used for the transmission of Morse code.
13. (cryptography) A piece of information (e.g. a passphrase) used to encode or decode a message or messages.
14. (Internet) A password restricting access to an IRC channel.
    • 2000, "Robert Erdec", Re: Help; mIRC32; unable to resolve server arnes.si (on newsgroup alt.irc.mirc)

      if you know someone who is in the channel, you can query them and ask for the key.

15. (databases) In a relational database, a field used as an index into another table (not necessarily unique).
16. (computing) A value that uniquely identifies an entry in a container.
17. (basketball) The free-throw lane together with the circle surrounding the free-throw line, the free-throw lane having formerly been narrower, giving the area the shape of a skeleton key hole.

18. (biology) A series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.
19. (architecture) A piece of wood used as a wedge.
20. (architecture) The last board of a floor when laid down.
21. (masonry) A keystone.
22. That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
23. (rail transport) A wooden support for a rail on the bullhead rail system.
24. The degree of roughness, or retention ability of a surface to have applied a liquid such as paint, or glue.

25. (cartomancy) The thirty-third card of the Lenormand deck.
26. (print and film) The black ink layer, especially in relation to the three color layers of cyan, magenta, and yellow. See also CMYK.
27. (computer graphics, television) A color to be masked or made transparent.
    • 2004, Mark Schmidt, ?Simon Robinson, Microsoft Visual C# .NET 2003 Developer's Cookbook (page 195)

      You can easily create this type of user interface by creating a bitmap with certain portions set to a predefined color you want to use as the transparency key.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• clef
• scale
• key on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Key in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Adjective

key (comparative more key, superlative most key)

1. Indispensable, supremely important.

   He is the key player on his soccer team.

   • 2007, Mark H. Moss, Shopping as an Entertainment Experience (page 46)

     Lukas intimates that one of Disney's key attractions was "Main Street USA,” which "mimicked a downtown business district just as Southdale" had done.
2. Important, salient.

   She makes several key points.

Translations

Verb

key (third-person singular simple present keys, present participle keying, simple past and past participle keyed)

1. To fit (a lock) with a key.
2. To fit (pieces of a mechanical assembly) with a key to maintain the orientation between them.
3. To mark or indicate with a symbol indicating membership in a class.
   • 1996 January, Garden Dsign Ideas, second printing, Taunton Press, ?ISBN, page 25,

     So I worked on a tissue-paper copy of the perimeter plan, outlining groupings of plants of the same species and keying them with letters for the species.

   • 2001, Bruce M. Metzger, The Bible in Translation, ?ISBN, page 87,

     The volume closes with thirty pages of "Notes, critical and explanatory," in which Thomson provides seventy-six longer or shorter notes keyed to specific sections of the synopsis.

   • 2002, Karen Bromley, Stretching Students' Vocabulary, ?ISBN, page 12,

     Talk about similarities between the words and write them below to the left of the anchor, keying them with a plus sign (+). Talk about the characteristics that set the words apart and list them below the box to the right, keying them with a tilde sign (~).

   • 2007, Stephen Blake Mettee, Michelle Doland, and Doris Hall, compilers, The American Directory of Writer's Guidelines, 6th ("2007–2008") edition, ?ISBN, page 757,

     Indicate the comparative value of each heading by keying it with a number in pencil, in the left margin, as follows: […]

4. (telegraphy and radio telegraphy) To depress (a telegraph key).
5. (radio) To operate (the transmitter switch of a two-way radio).
6. (computing) (more usually to key in) To enter (information) by typing on a keyboard or keypad.

   Our instructor told us to key in our user IDs.

7. (colloquial) To vandalize (a car, etc.) by scratching with an implement such as a key.

   He keyed the car that had taken his parking spot.

8. To link (as one might do with a key or legend).
   • 1960, Richard L. Masland, "Classification of the Epilepsies", in Epilepsia, volume 1, page 516,

     The American Heart Association has prepared their own guide to classification and, keying it with the Standard Nomenclature of Diseases, have done much to encourage a concise yet complete diagnosis.
9. (intransitive, biology, chiefly taxonomy) To be identified as a certain taxon when using a key.
10. (advertising, transitive) To modify (an advertisement) so as to target a particular group or demographic.
    • 1936, John Freeman Pyle, Marketing Principles, Organization and Policies (page 711)

      Keying advertisements and counting the number of inquiries received or the number of coupons returned to indicate the "pulling power" of a particular piece of copy or the coverage of a particular advertising medium.

    • 1998, Mail Order Success Secrets

      Another popular way to key ads and mailings is to use a suite number, room number, department number, desk number, etc. as part of the ordering address. With a classified ad, using such a key may increase your ad cost. Why? Because you're using an extra word or two to key the ad.

11. To attune to; to set at; to pitch.
12. To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis to this entry?)

Derived terms

• key in
• key off
• key out
• keyed up

Translations

References

Etymology 2

Variant of cay, from Spanish cayo, from Taíno cayo (“small island”)

Alternative forms

• cay

Noun

key (plural keys)

1. One of a string of small islands.

   the Florida Keys

Derived terms

• Florida Keys
• Key West

Translations

Etymology 3

Noun

key (plural keys)

1. Alternative form of quay.

Etymology 4

Abbreviating kilogram, via kilo.

Noun

key (plural keys)

1. (slang) Clipping of kilogram (especially of a recreational drug)

   Synonym: kay

   • 2010, David J. Silas, Da Block (page 41)

     So starting with ten keys of cocaine and two keys of heroin, Derrick put his plan in motion. Soon every major drug dealer and gang chief from Chicago Avenue to Evanston was in his pocket.

Anagrams

• Kye, kye

Central Kurdish

Adverb

key (key)

1. when

Manx

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

key m (genitive singular [please provide], plural [please provide])

1. cream

Derived terms

• key blinkit
• key feayr
• key riojey, key riojit

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

key m (genitive singular keyee)

1. (nautical) quay

Mutation

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k??.d?.n?l/, /?k??d.n?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k??d?n?l/, /?k??dn?l/

Adjective

cardinal (comparative more cardinal, superlative most cardinal)

1. Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.
   • 1613, William Shakespeare, Henry VIII (play),

     But cardinal sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye.

   • a. 1631, Michael Drayton, To my noble friend Mr. William Brown, of the evil time

     Impudence is now a cardinal virtue.

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

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

Translations

Noun

cardinal (plural cardinals)

1. (Roman Catholicism) One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope and the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope. (See Wikipedia article on Catholic cardinals.)
2. Any of a genus of songbirds of the finch family, Cardinalis.
3. Any of various related passerine birds of the family Cardinalidae (See Wikipedia article on cardinals) and other similar birds that were once considered to be related.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

4. (color) A deep red color, somewhat less vivid than scarlet, the traditional colour of a Catholic cardinal's cassock. (same as cardinal red)
5. (mathematics) Short for cardinal number, a number indicating quantity, or the size of a set (e.g., zero, one, two, three). (See Wikipedia article on Cardinal number.)
   • 1920, Bertrand Russell, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, p.83:

     This cardinal number is the smallest of the infinite cardinal numbers; it is the one to which Cantor has appropriated the Hebrew aleph with the suffix 0, to distinguish it from larger infinite cardinals. Thus the name of the smallest of infinite cardinals is ₀?.

6. (grammar) Short for cardinal numeral, a word used to represent a cardinal number.
   • 2005, Frederic M. Wheelock, Wheelock's Latin, 6th ed. revised, p.97:

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

7. Short for cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), a flowering plant.
8. Short for cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi), a freshwater fish.
9. (now historical) A woman's short cloak with a hood, originally made of scarlet cloth.
   • 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Duenna, I.3:

     She has valuables of mine; besides, my cardinal and veil are in her room.

   • c. 1760, Robert Lloyd, Chit-Chat, an imitation of Theocritus

     Where's your cardinal! Make haste.
10. (obsolete) Mulled red wine.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• (woman's cloak; mulled red wine): Hotten's Slang Dictionary (1873)

See also

• (reds) red; blood red, brick red, burgundy, cardinal, carmine, carnation, cerise, cherry, cherry red, Chinese red, cinnabar, claret, crimson, damask, fire brick, fire engine red, flame, flamingo, fuchsia, garnet, geranium, gules, hot pink, incarnadine, Indian red, magenta, maroon, misty rose, nacarat, oxblood, pillar-box red, pink, Pompeian red, poppy, raspberry, red violet, rose, rouge, ruby, ruddy, salmon, sanguine, scarlet, shocking pink, stammel, strawberry, Turkey red, Venetian red, vermillion, vinaceous, vinous, violet red, wine ^{(Category: en:Reds)}
• Contrast with ordinal (numbers)
• Card. (abbreviation)

Anagrams

• Clarinda

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /k??.di?nal/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /k?r.di?nal/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ka?.di?nal/

Adjective

cardinal (feminine cardinala, masculine plural cardinals, feminine plural cardinales)

1. cardinal

Derived terms

• punt cardinal

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cardin?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka?.di.nal/

Adjective

cardinal (feminine singular cardinale, masculine plural cardinaux, feminine plural cardinales)

1. Important; paramount.
2. (mathematics) cardinal.

Derived terms

• point cardinal

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinaux)

1. (religion) cardinal.
2. Cardinal number.
3. Cardinal (bird).

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinal)

1. cardinal (color).

Further reading

• “cardinal” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Noun

cardinal m (invariable)

1. Apocopic form of cardinale

Anagrams

• calandri

Middle French

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinauls)

1. (Christianity) cardinal.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ka?.d??i?naw/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ka?.ði?na?/
• Hyphenation: car?di?nal

Adjective

cardinal m or f (plural cardinais, comparable)

1. cardinal (describing a number that indicates quantity)

   Synonym: cardeal

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinais)

1. cardinal (number indicating quantity)

   Synonym: cardeal

2. (typography) hash (the # symbol)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French cardinal, Latin cardin?lis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kar.di?nal/

Adjective

cardinal m or n (feminine singular cardinal?, masculine plural cardinali, feminine and neuter plural cardinale)

1. principal, essential, fundamental

Declension

Synonyms

• capital, crucial, decisiv, esen?ial, fundamental

Derived terms

• numeral cardinal
• punct cardinal
• ro?u cardinal, ro?u-cardinal
• virtu?i cardinale

Noun

cardinal m (plural cardinali)

1. (religion) cardinal
2. cardinal (bird)
3. a variety of grape, cultivated for consumption

Declension

Derived terms

• cardinalat
• cardinalist

References

• cardinal in DEX online - Dic?ionare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cardin?lis, cardin?li.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka?di?nal/, [ka?.ð?i?nal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: car?di?nal

Adjective

cardinal (plural cardinales)

1. cardinal (crucial, pivotal)

   Synonym: fundamental

2. cardinal (describing a number used to indicate quantity)

   Antonym: ordinal

Derived terms

Related terms

• cardenal

Further reading

• “cardinal” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.