The word cardinal comes from the Latin cardo for "hinge" and usually refers to things of fundamental importance, as in cardinal rule or cardinal sins.

Cardinal may refer to:

• Cardinal (Catholicism), a senior ecclesiastical official, of the Catholic Church
• Cardinal (bird), a family of passerine birds living in the Americas
• Cardinal (color), a vivid reddish color
• Cardinal directions
• Cardinal (passenger train), an Amtrak route connecting Chicago with New York via Cincinnati and Washington
• Cardinal Health, a multinational health supply and pharmaceutical distributor
• Cardinal mark, a sea mark used in navigation
• Cardinal number, in mathematics
• Cardinal tetra, a species of fish
• Cardinal veins
• Cardinal vowels, the standard reference points for phonetic description.
• A name for the Cessna 177 aircraft
• Cardinal Brewery, a Swiss brewery
• Cardinal (grape), a wine and table grape

Several sports teams use the name Cardinals:

• Arizona Cardinals, an professional American football team
• Cardenales de Lara, a Venezuelan baseball team
• Louisville Cardinals, an intercollegiate sports team in Louisville
• Mapua Cardinals, the varsity teams of Mapua Institute of Technology
• St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball team in the National League
• Stanford Cardinal, the sports teams of Stanford University, named after the color as opposed to the bird

People named Cardinal include:

• Judah ben Isaac Cardinal, French translator who lived at the beginning of the thirteenth century
• Brian Cardinal, American basketball player
• Douglas J. Cardinal (born 1934), a Canadian architect
• Harold Cardinal (1945-2005), a Cree writer and political leader
• Kardinal Offishall, Canadian rapper/producer
• Lorne Cardinal, Canadian actor
• Mark Cardinal, Canadian rugby player
• Tantoo Cardinal, Canadian actress

Places named Cardinal include:

• Cardinal, Ontario
• Several high schools, see Cardinal High School

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