biritch, card game similar to bridge whist and a forerunner of auction and contract bridge. Apparently developed in the eastern Mediterranean region, where it was known as khedive, it became popular in Greece and Egypt and, under the name of biritch, on the French Riviera in the last quarter of the 19th century. The name biritch, of obscure origin, had been corrupted to bridge by the 1880s. In bridge whist, “to biritch (bridge) it” means to pass the choice of trump from the dealer to his partner.