finish

English

Etymology

From Old French finiss-, stem of some of the conjugated forms of finir, from Latin fīnīre, present active infinitive of fīniō.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fĭn'ĭsh, IPA: /ˈfɪnɪʃ/, SAMPA: /"fInIS/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Homophone: Finnish

Noun

finish (plural finishes)

1. An end: the end of anything.
2. A protective coating given to wood or metal and other surfaces.

   The car's finish was so shiny and new.

3. The result of any process changing the physical or chemical properties of cloth.
4. (sports) A shot on goal, especially one that ends in a goal.
   • 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, BBC:

     The Italian opted for Bolton's Cahill alongside captain John Terry - and his decision was rewarded with a goal after only 13 minutes. Bulgaria gave a hint of defensive frailties to come when they failed to clear Young's corner, and when Gareth Barry found Cahill in the box he applied the finish past Nikolay Mihaylov.

Translations

end

Armenian: վերջ (hy) (verǰ), ավարտ (hy) (avart), վախճան (hy) (vaxč̣an) Catalan: meta (ca) f., fita (ca) f. Chinese: 終結 Croatian: cilj (hr) m. Czech: konec (cs) m. Danish: slutning (da) c. Dutch: eindstreep (nl) f., finish (nl) f., meet (nl) f. Finnish: loppu (fi), maali (fi) French: fin (fr) f. German: Ende (de) n. Greek: τέλος (el) (télos) n. Indonesian: tamat (id), selesai (id)

Interlingua: fin (ia), termination (ia) Italian: fine (it) f. Latin: finis (la) m., terminus (la) m. Latvian: beigas f. Norwegian: avslutning (no) m. and f., slutt (no) m. Polish: koniec (pl) m. Portuguese: fim (pt) m., acabamento (pt) m. Romanian: sfârșit (ro), final (ro) n. Spanish: meta (es) f., fin (es) m. Swedish: mål (sv) n. Volapük: fin, finük

protective coating

Danish: finish (da) c. Finnish: pintakäsittely (fi) French: fini (fr) m. German: Lack (de) m.

Norwegian: toppstrøk (no) n., finish (no) m. Romanian: lac (ro) n. Swedish: yta (sv) c., finish (sv) c.

Verb

finish (third-person singular simple present finishes, present participle finishing, simple past and past participle finished)

1. (transitive) To complete (something).

   Please finish your homework!

2. (transitive) To apply a treatment to (a surface or similar).

   The furniture was finished in teak veneer.

3. (transitive) To change an animal's food supply in the months before it is due for slaughter, with the intention of fattening the animal.

   Due to BSE, cows in the United Kingdom must be finished and slaughtered before 30 months of age.

4. (intransitive) To come to an end.

   The song has finished.

Usage notes

• (transitive, to complete): This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (the -ing form). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Translations

to complete

Arabic: فرغ (ar) (faragha), أنهى (ar) ('anhaa) Catalan: acabar (ca), finir (ca), terminar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 完成 (cmn) (wánchéng), 完 (cmn) (wán), 結束 (cmn), 结束 (cmn) (jiéshù) Czech: dokončit (cs) Dutch: afwerken (nl), beëindigen (nl) Esperanto: fini (eo) Finnish: tehdä loppuun (fi) French: finir (fr), achever (fr) Galician: acabar (gl) German: beenden (de) Greek: τελειώνω (el) (teleióno) Hebrew: please add this translation if you can Hiligaynon: ában Hindi: ख़त्म करना (hi) (xatm karnā), अंत करना (hi) (anta karnā) Hungarian: befejez (hu), végez (hu) Interlingua: finir (ia), terminar (ia) Irish: críochnaigh (ga) Italian: finire (it)

Japanese: 終了する (ja) (しゅうりょうする, shūryō-suru), 終える (ja) (おえる, oeru) Latin: finio (la) Latvian: beigt, pabeigt Norwegian: fullføre (no), avslutte (no) Persian: تمام کردن (fa) (tamâm kardan) Polish: dokonywać (pl), dokonać (pl) Portuguese: acabar (pt) Russian: окончить (ru) (okónčit’) pf., закончить (ru) (zakónčit’) pf., заканчивать (ru) (zakánčivat’) pf. Scottish Gaelic: crìochnaich (gd) Spanish: acabar (es), terminar (es) Swedish: slutföra (sv), fullfölja (sv), gå i mål (sv), avsluta (sv) Telugu: ముగించు (mugimchu) పూర్తిచేయు (poorthicheyu) Thai: เสร็จ (th) (serg) Turkish: please add this translation if you can Urdu: ختم کرنا (ur) (xatm karnā) Vietnamese: kết thúc (vi), hoàn thành (vi), làm xong (vi) Volapük: fimekön, finükön, lemekön !Xóõ: ǁkxʻāã

to apply a final treatment to

Finnish: viimeistellä (fi) German: fertigstellen (de)

Italian: rifinire (it) Latin: finio (la)

to come to an end

Chinese: Mandarin: 結束 (zh), 结束 (zh) (jiéshù) Czech: skončit (cs) Dutch: ophouden (nl), eindigen (nl), gedaan zijn Esperanto: finiĝi (eo) Finnish: loppua (fi), päättyä (fi) French: finir (fr) German: enden (de), aufhören (de) Greek: τελειώνω (el) (teleióno) Haitian Creole: fini Hiligaynon: ában Hindi: ख़त्म होना (hi) (xatm honā)

Italian: finire (it) Japanese: 終わる (ja) (おわる, owaru) Latin: finio (la), finem habeo (la), terminor (la), finior (la) Norwegian: avslutte (no) Persian: تمام شدن (fa) (tamâm šodan) Polish: skończyć się (pl) Russian: окончиться (ru) (okónčit’sja) pf., закончиться (ru) (zakónčit’sja) pf., заканчиваться (ru) (zakánčivat’sja) pf. Spanish: acabar (es), terminar (es), finalizar (es) Swedish: avsluta (sv) Telugu: అంతమవు (antamavu), పూర్తవు (poortavu) Urdu: ختم ہونا (ur) (xatm honā)

Related terms

• finish line
• finishing school

---

Danish

Noun

finish c. (singular definite finishen, not used in plural form)

1. (the appearance after) fine-tuning, finishing touch
2. finish (a spectacular end in a race or a competition)

---

Dutch

Noun

finish f. (uncountable)

1. finish; end

Verb

finish

1. first-person singular present indicative of finishen.
2. imperative of finishen.