  We prove that for infinite cardinals $\kappa<\lambda$ the alternating group
$Alt(\lambda)$ (of even permutations) of $\lambda$ is not embeddable into the
symmetric group $Sym(\kappa)$ (of all permutations) of $\kappa$. To prove this
fact we introduce and study several monotone cardinal group invariants which
take value $\kappa$ on the groups $Alt(\kappa)$ and $Sym(\kappa)$.
