cards vs chemin de fer

cards and chemin de fer both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
cards	Yes	No	No	No
chemin de fer	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, chemin de fer is a hyponym of cards; that is, chemin de fer is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than cards:

cards: a game played with playing cards
chemin de fer: a card game played in casinos in which two or more punters gamble against the banker; the player wins who holds 2 or 3 cards that total closest to nine

cards (noun)	chemin de fer (noun)
a game played with playing cards	a card game played in casinos in which two or more punters gamble against the banker; the player wins who holds 2 or 3 cards that total closest to nine