cardinal

Meanings

Adjective

• Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.
• Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west).
• Describing a "natural" number used to indicate quantity (e.g., zero, one, two, three), as opposed to an ordinal number indicating relative position.
• Having a bright red color (from the color of a Catholic cardinal's cassock).

Noun

• One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope and the patriarch, constituting the special college which elects the pope. (See Wikipedia article on Catholic cardinals.)
• Any of a genus of songbirds of the finch family, Cardinalis.
• 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.
• a number indicating quantity, or the size of a set (e.g., zero, one, two, three).
• a word used to represent a cardinal number.
• (Lobelia cardinalis (species)), a flowering plant.
• (Paracheirodon axelrodi (species)), a freshwater fish.
• A woman's short cloak with a hood, originally made of scarlet cloth.
• Mulled red wine.

Origin

• From Middle French cardinal, from Latin cardinālis ("pertaining to a hinge, hence applied to that on which something turns or depends, important, principal, chief"), from cardō + -ālis, adjectival suffix.
• Image:Kard Stanisław Dziwisz.jpg|thumb|right|A cardinal.
• Image:Cardinal side view.JPG|thumb|right|A cardinal.