green thumb

English

Noun

green thumb (plural green thumbs)

1. (US, idiomatic) A natural skill for gardening.
   • 1987, Lyall Watson, The dreams of dragons: riddles of natural history‎,

     Everyone knows someone who has a "green thumb," who seems to be able to get plants to grow well just by being around, by talking or even playing music...

   • 2003, Barbara Damrosch, The Garden Primer,

     ...they leave gardening to those who presumably have lots of time to read and better yet, have a "green thumb."

   • 2006, Des Kennedy, The Passionate Gardener: Adventures of an Ardent Green Thumb‎,

     Oh, I'll never have a green thumb, no matter how long I stay at it. Nothing ever seems to work for me. Everything I plant dies.

2. (US) A person with this skill.

   I should ask the green thumb next door what she recommends for my droopy daffodils.

Usage notes

• Chiefly used in the form "have a green thumb"
• In UK English the corresponding expression is to describe someone as 'having green fingers' or 'being green-fingered'.

Synonyms

• (skill): green fingers

Translations

skill

French: (la) main verte (fr) f.

German: grüner Daumen (de) m.

person

Dutch: iemand met groene vingers Finnish: viherpeukalo

French: quelqu'un qui a la main verte m., une personne qui a la main verte f. German: Grüner Daumen

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

German: den grünen Daumen haben (de) Russian: быть хорошим огородником (ru)

See also

• brown thumb
• http://www.proverbium.org/idioms/green-thumb/