Plural of canasta, a card game played with decks of cards, often in groups, where players try to meld cards into groups.
From Spanish canasta meaning 'basket,' referring to the receptacle that holds the cards or the collected melds in the game. Originated in South America, likely Uruguay or Argentina.
Canasta became a worldwide phenomenon in the 1950s—it's one of the fastest-spreading card games ever, partly because it's fun in groups, and the name just means 'basket'!
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