Word.ws English Dictionary

lucky at cards, unlucky in love

lucky at cards, unlucky in love proverb: someone who enjoys good fortune in games will experience romantic frustration.

Proverb

lucky at cards, unlucky in love

  1. Someone who enjoys good fortune in games will experience romantic frustration.
    • The old maxim, "Lucky at cards, unlucky in love," is applied to chess.1867 March 16, “Winning and Losing”, in Illustrated Times, London, page 7

Origin of lucky at cards, unlucky in love

Current phrasing from 1867. Idea present from the 18th century. Earlier expressions include "Well, Miss, you’ll have a sad Husband, you have such good Luck at Cards" (Swift, Polite Conversation, 1738) and "lucky in play, unlucky in love" (1846). A similar French saying "Malheureux en amour, heureux au jeu" is attested from 1850.

Questions about lucky at cards, unlucky in love

What does lucky at cards, unlucky in love mean?
Lucky at cards, unlucky in love means someone who enjoys good fortune in games will experience romantic frustration.
What part of speech is lucky at cards, unlucky in love?
Lucky at cards, unlucky in love is a proverb.

Words near lucky at cards, unlucky in love in the dictionary

  1. lucks through
  2. luckshit
  3. Lucksinger
  4. lucksome
  5. lucky
  6. lucky at cards, unlucky in love
  7. lucky bag
  8. lucky bags
  9. lucky bamboo
  10. lucky bamboos
  11. lucky break

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lucky at cards, unlucky in love (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “lucky at cards, unlucky in love.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lucky_at_cards%2C_unlucky_in_love. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.