Meaning in Plain English

"Deuce" means two in card and dice games, a 40–40 tie in tennis, or, since the mid-1600s, bad luck or the devil and later a mild oath. In modern informal use, "deuces" means goodbye, often with a two-finger gesture, but the farewell's full origin is not documented.

Examples:

She drew a deuce and lost the hand. The score returned to deuce three times before she won two points in a row. What the deuce is going on here? Deuces, everyone — I am heading out.

From Latin "Two" to the Card Table

The documented history begins in the late 1400s, when English borrowed the word as dews, meaning "the 2 in dice or cards"; by the 1510s it also meant "a roll of 2 in dice," according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. It came from Old French deus (modern French deux), from Latin duos, nominative duo, "two," tracing to the Proto-Indo-European root *dwo-, "two." The spelling shifted from -s to -ce to reflect a voiceless pronunciation, the same change seen in dice and pence. Wiktionary's entry for deuce records the card-game and dice senses with the same etymology, and both Merriam-Webster and Cambridge Dictionary define it as the two in cards and dice. This strand of the history is thoroughly documented.

Tennis: A Documented Early Sense

The tennis sense is nearly as old. The Online Etymology Dictionary dates "a stage of the game in which both players or sides have scored 40, and one must score 2 points to win" to the 1590s. The term is simply the word for two applied to a score at which a player must win two consecutive points. A popular story holds that tennis "deuce" comes from the French phrase à deux ("at two"), but the dictionaries we consulted do not support it: etymonline treats à deux as a separate French borrowing, recorded in English only by 1876, with no stated connection to tennis scoring. The 1590s dating of the tennis sense is documented; the "à deux" theory is a plausible-sounding explanation with no published confirmation we could find.

"The Deuce" as a Mild Oath

By the mid-1600s "deuce" was being used in the sense of "bad luck" or "the devil," and by 1710 it had become a mild oath, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, which also repeats the Oxford English Dictionary's note that 16th-century Low German had der daus! in the same sense. The change may have been helped by the fact that two was the lowest score in dice and by the word's similarity to Latin deus, "god" — etymonline offers both as possibilities rather than certainties. The oath sense is common in 19th-century literature: in A Christmas Carol (1843), Charles Dickens writes that sitting in silence before the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come "would play, Scrooge felt, the very deuce with him," a passage verified in the Project Gutenberg text. Cambridge Dictionary still lists "the deuce" as an old-fashioned informal exclamation of anger or surprise, as in "What the deuce do you think you're doing?"

The Deuce Coupe and Other Senses of "Two"

Because the word means "two," it has been drafted into many specialties. In 1940s hot-rodder slang a deuce coupe was a souped-up two-door car, especially a 1932 Ford. The Beach Boys' 1963 song "Little Deuce Coupe," released October 7, 1963, fixed the car in popular memory. Wiktionary records "deuce" as slang for a 1932 Ford and cites Bruce Springsteen's 1973 line "cut loose like a deuce" from "Blinded by the Light." Money slang is older: a 1934 issue of Collier's uses "deuce" for two dollars. In Canadian slang "doing a deuce" means serving a two-year prison sentence; Wiktionary cites a 1988 personal advertisement in Gay Community News for that sense, and in Canadian and US slang "deuce" can also be a euphemism for a bowel movement. Sports writers occasionally call a two-point shot a "deuce," but we found no dated citation for that use; it is best treated as an informal extension of the word's basic meaning. Collins Dictionary and Wiktionary between them record most of these senses.

The Two-Finger Gesture and the Farewell "Deuces"

The modern farewell is often paired with the two-finger V sign, but the gesture has its own earlier history. The palm-out V was launched as a "V for Victory" emblem in January 1941 by the Belgian broadcaster Victor de Laveleye as part of an Allied campaign, made widely known by Winston Churchill, and during the Vietnam War of the 1960s the American counterculture adopted it as a peace sign, according to Wikipedia's V sign article (see also the Encyclopaedia Britannica's V sign entry). Raising two fingers supplies the visual idea behind "throwing up deuces"; it does not establish a direct historical line from the victory or peace sign to the slang farewell.

What is documented about the word itself: Wiktionary's entry for "deuces" lists it as African American Vernacular English slang meaning "peace; goodbye (because of the associated gesture holding up two fingers)," with the earliest dated printed example it cites from a 2011 novel, The Player's Rule. The related interjection "peace out" ("see you later") is recorded in the same dictionary without a firm date. The claimed step-by-step route through hip-hop lyrics, basketball celebrations, AIM away messages, and texting could not be verified, so that chain should be treated as folklore until a source documents it. The release of Chris Brown's 2010 R&B single "Deuces" (June 25, 2010, per Wikipedia) shows the word's cultural currency in that period, but a song title is not evidence of when or how the farewell began.

What Is Documented, and What Is Not

(a) Earliest evidence actually located. The word as "two" in cards and dice: late 1400s; "roll of 2 in dice": 1510s; tennis sense: 1590s; "bad luck, the devil" sense: mid-1600s; mild oath: 1710; "deuce coupe": 1940s. "Doing a deuce" (two-year sentence): 1988 citation. Farewell "deuces": 2011 citation.

(b) Plausible literal image. The farewell "deuces" pairs naturally with two raised fingers. That visual connection helps explain the modern expression, but it does not prove when, where, or through whom the farewell began.

(c) Popular origin theory. That tennis "deuce" comes from the French phrase "à deux" is widely told but not confirmed by the dictionaries we consulted.

(d) Unsupported folklore. The step-by-step farewell story (hip-hop to basketball to AIM to texting) has no dated documentation we could find for each stage. Etymonline's suggestion that the oath sense was reinforced by the resemblance to Latin deus is likewise presented by that source as a possibility, not a proven fact.

How to Use the Phrase

"Deuces" is informal slang, best used with friends or in casual writing and messaging, often with a two-finger gesture. It signals a breezy, confident exit, roughly like "peace out." "The deuce" as an oath is old-fashioned and mildly comical today; the tennis and card senses are standard, neutral usage; "deuce coupe" remains hot-rod jargon. In formal writing, "goodbye" or "see you" is the safer choice.

Quick Questions

Does "deuce" come from French?

The word itself does: Old French deus, from Latin duos, both meaning "two," borrowed into English by the late 1400s. The separate claim that the tennis term comes from the French phrase "à deux" is not confirmed by the dictionaries we consulted.

Why does "deuce" mean the devil?

The Online Etymology Dictionary dates the "bad luck, the devil" sense to the mid-1600s and the mild-oath use to 1710. It offers two possible reasons: two was the lowest dice score, and the word resembles Latin deus, "god." Both are possibilities rather than established facts.

When did "deuces" become a way to say goodbye?

The earliest dated printed example we could confirm is from a 2011 novel cited by Wiktionary, which labels the use African American Vernacular English. A popular story describes a spread through hip-hop and early internet culture, but that path is not documented step by step.

Sources and Further Reading