canasta
UK[kəˈnæstə]US[kəˈnæstə]
n
a card game of the rummy family, usually played by two pairs of partners with two decks of cards.
n
a meld of seven or more cards of the same rank in the game of canasta.
Etymology
the word 'canasta' entered english directly from the spanish language in the mid-20th century, following the game's international popularity. in spanish, 'canasta' literally means 'basket', a reference to the receptacle used to hold the discard pile or, more figuratively, to the meld of cards itself which is the key to winning. the term's journey is one of cultural borrowing, where the name of an object (basket) was applied to a specific scoring combination in a card game and then became the name for the entire game upon its export.
Analysis
this word is a loanword from spanish, adopted as a single lexical unit. it is not productively formed from separable morphemes in english.
Examples
we spent the afternoon playing a few relaxing rounds of canasta.
to go out, you must have a canasta in your hand.
the classic partnership version of canasta requires two standard decks of cards.