Is “The Fool” the right name for this ca
Question
Is “The Fool” the right name for this card?
Answer
Yes, “The Fool” is the correct name in the modern English Rider–Waite–Smith tradition — but it’s one of several names the same card has carried across history.
Plain + formal
- Plain: the zero card of the Major Arcana, the traveler at the edge of the cliff.
- Formal: Major Arcana card 0, opening the 22-card arc from The Fool (0) to The World (XXI).
Other names for the same card
| Tradition | Name | Literal meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 15th-c. Italian (original) | Il Matto | the madman / fool |
| French / Marseille (18th c.) | Le Mat | the fool / jester |
| English RWS (1909 onward) | The Fool | the fool |
| Standard Mandarin | 愚者 (yúzhě) | the fool |
All four point to the same image and the same 0 position. So if you’re reading an Italian Tarocco it’s Il Matto; a Marseille deck calls it Le Mat; in modern English and Mandarin it’s The Fool / 愚者.
One small caveat
In the oldest Italian decks the card was often unnumbered, sitting outside the 1–21 trionfi sequence. “Card 0” is itself a 20th-century esoteric convention, not an original fact — the name “The Fool” predates that numbering.
Nothing was drawn and nothing was saved — this was a terminology question. Want a one-card pull on something of your own, say the question and I’ll draw.