If one came across carte de cisite, they may wonder what it is made of. In fact carte de visite is usually made of a thin paper photograph mounted on a thicker paper card.

a business card is "une carte de visite" in French.

After the surrender, he tried to evade capture by wearing a woman's hat and coat.

Carte Visite means a type of small photograph that was patented in France, hence the french name. Done in sepia or black and white, these pictures were about the size of a calling card.

Une carte (fem.) is most often a map, or a postcard in French. In fact a number of rectangular pieces of cardboard - or other materials - are called carte. We may add an adjective when need be:

- une carte routière, une carte d'état-major: a road map, an ordnance survey map;

- une carte postale : a postcard;

- une carte de visite : a business card;

- une carte-mère : a motherboard (computers);

- la carte du restaurant : the piece of carboard where the menu is printed in restaurants.