Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Ace

For works with similar titles, see Ace.

​Ace, the received name for the single point on cards or dice—the unit. Mr Fox Talbot has a speculation (English Etymologies, p. 262) that the Latins invented, if not the game of dice, at least the name for the single point, which they called unus. The Greeks corrupted this into ὄνος, and at length the Germanic races, learning the game from the Greeks, translated the word into ass, which has now become ace. The fact, however, is, that the root of the word lies in the Latin as, the monetary unit, which is to be identified with the Greek εἷς; Doric, αἴς or ἄς.

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