rum

British slang 'rum' (or 'rummy') meant odd, strange, or questionable — as in 'a rum fellow' (a strange person) or 'rum deal' (an odd situation). The origin of this slang is itself obscure, possibly from Romany rom (a Gypsy man) or from the exclamation 'Rom!' Some scholars suggest the card game was named 'rum' because it was played for stakes of rum, or because of the rum-dealing associations of the lower-class games from which it emerged.

Rummy as a card game appears in American records around 1909. It is a draw-and-discard game in which players form sets (three or four cards of the same rank) and sequences (three or more cards of the same suit in consecutive order). The goal is to 'go out' by melding all your cards. The basic mechanism likely derives from Mahjong (via 'Mahjong card games') or from earlier draw-and-discard games played in China and the Caribbean.

Gin Rummy — the most popular variant — emerged in New York around 1909 and is said to have been invented by Elwood T. Baker and his son Charles. The name combines gin (the drink) with rummy, possibly continuing the alcohol-naming tradition. Gin Rummy became enormously popular during the 1940s, partly because it was fast enough to play between breaks on film sets — Hollywood reportedly contributed to its spread.

Contract Rummy, Canasta, and Oklahoma Gin are all derivatives of the basic rummy mechanism. The game spawned an entire family of melding card games that spread worldwide. The uncertain slang term gave its name to one of the most widely played card games in history.