|- align="center"
| style="background: #c0c8f8;" colspan="4" | Face Cards
|- align="center"
|- align="center"
| colspan="4" |(in decreasing order per suit)
|- align="center"
| style="background: #e3e3e3;" | hearts
| style="background: #e3e3e3;" | spades
| style="background: #e3e3e3;" | clubs
| style="background: #e3e3e3;" | diamonds
|- align="center"
| style="background: #ffffff;" | K | Q | J
| style="background: #ffffff;" | ♠K | ♠Q | ♠J
| style="background: #ffffff;" | ♣K | ♣Q | ♣J
| style="background: #ffffff;" | K | Q | J
|}>

In a deck of playing card

Playing card

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...

s, the term face card is generally used to describe a card that depicts a person. Cards depicting persons were developed in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, possibly in the late 14th century; it is believed that earlier sets of cards included "court cards" that showed abstract designs instead of people .

Europeans changed the court cards to represent European royalty and attendants, thereby forming the original face cards: king, chevalier

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

, and knave (or servant).

A deck of French playing cards has the following face cards:

• Jack
  Jack (playing card)
  A Jack, also Knave, is a playing card with a picture of a man on it. The usual rank of a jack, within its suit, is as if it were an 11 ....
  
  
• Queen
  Queen (playing card)
  The Queen is a playing card with a picture of a queen on it. The usual rank of a queen is as if it were 12 ....
  
  
• King
  King (playing card)
  The king is a playing card with a picture of a king on it. The usual rank of a king is as if it were a 13; that is, above the queen. In some games, the king is the highest-ranked card; in others, the ace is higher...
  
  

A deck of Italian playing cards has the following face cards (which are worth 10, 9 and 8 respectively, as there are only 10 cards per suit):

• King/Re - a man standing, wearing a crown
• Knight/Horseman/Cavaliere - a man sitting on a horse
• Jack/Fante - a younger man standing, without a crown

or (depending on the regional variant):

• King/Re - a man standing, wearing a crown
• Dame/Donna - a younger woman standing, without a crown
• Knight/Horseman/Cavaliere - a man sitting on a horse

Significance of cards being face cards (versus a "regular", "rank" or "numbered" card) varies depending on the particular game being played. Typically they are considered to be higher than the 10 and lower than the ace. Many games that ascribe numerical value, or 'points' to a face card, such as Blackjack

Blackjack

Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...

, give all face cards a value of 10.

While modern decks of playing cards may contain a Joker

Joker (playing card)

Joker is a special type of playing card found in most modern decks, or else a type of tile in some Mahjong game sets.-Name:It is believed that the term "Joker" comes from a mispronunciation of Jucker, the German/Alsatian name for the game Euchre. The card was originally introduced in about 1860 for...

 (or two) depicting a person (such as a jester or clown

Clown

Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...

), jokers are not normally considered as face cards.