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card (n.1)[card 词源字典]: c. 1400, "playing card," from Middle French carte (14c.), from Latin charta "leaf of paper, tablet," from Greek khartes "layer of papyrus," probably from Egyptian. Form influenced after 14c. by Italian carta (see chart (n.)).

Sense of "playing cards" also is oldest in French. Sense in English extended by 1590s to similar small, flat, stiff bits of paper. Meaning "printed ornamental greetings for special occasions" is from 1869. Application to clever or original persons (1836, originally with an adjective, as in smart card) is from the playing-card sense, via expressions such as sure card "an expedient certain to attain an object" (c. 1560).

Card table is from 1713. Card-sharper is 1859. House of cards in the figurative sense is from 1640s, first attested in Milton. To have a card up (one's) sleeve is 1898; to play the _______ card is from 1886, originally the Orange card, meaning "appeal to Northern Irish Protestant sentiment (for political advantage)."[card etymology, card origin, 英语词源]
nonce (n.): abstracted from phrase for þe naness (c. 1200) "for a special occasion, for a particular purpose," itself a misdivision (see N for other examples) of for þan anes "for the once," in reference to a particular occasion or purpose, the þan being from Middle English dative definite article þam (see the). The phrase used from early 14c. as an empty filler in metrical composition. As an adjective from 1884.
nonce-word (n.): "word coined for a special occasion," 1922, from nonce + word (n.).