Canasta Terms Glossary — Every Term Explained

The Canasta table terms you will hear most, with short explanations.

Meld: Three or more cards of the same natural rank laid face up on the table by a partnership.
Canasta: A meld of seven or more cards. The core objective: each canasta earns a large bonus.
Natural (pure/clean/red) canasta: A canasta with no wild cards — worth 500 points.
Mixed (dirty/black) canasta: A canasta containing at least one wild card — worth 300 points.
Wild card: Twos and jokers; they substitute for any natural card (max three per meld).
Red three: ♥3 or ♦3 — a bonus card laid out at once (+100, all four = +800; negative if the team never melded).
Black three: ♠3 or ♣3 — a stop card; discarding it blocks the pile for the next player. Meldable only when going out.
Freeze: A pile containing a wild card or red three (or facing a team that has not melded) — it can only be taken with a natural pair matching the top card.
Initial meld: A team's first meld of a hand; it must meet a minimum count (15/50/90/120 by score).
Going out: Emptying your hand (melding, with an optional final discard) once your team has a canasta — +100.
Concealed: Going out by melding the entire hand in one turn with no previous meld — 200 points total.
Stock: The face-down draw pile; when it runs out, the hand ends.
Discard pile: The face-up pile; takeable as a whole when you can immediately meld its top card.
Dead card: A card of a rank where an opponent's completed canasta already sits — safe to discard.