finger

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See also: Finger

English[edit]

A human finger.

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English finger, from Old English finger (“finger”), from Proto-Germanic *fingraz (“finger”) (compare West Frisian finger, Low German/German Finger, Dutch vinger, Danish finger), from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷrós, *penkʷ-ros 'fifth' (compare Old Irish cóicer 'set of five people', Old Armenian հինգեր-որդ (hinger-ord, “fifth”)), from *pénkʷe (“five”). More at five.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

finger (plural fingers)

  1. (anatomy) One of the long extremities of the hand, sometimes excluding the thumb.
    Human hands have five fingers: the thumb, the forefinger (or index finger), the middle finger, the ring finger and the little finger.
    • 1915, Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, The How and Why Library, Life, Section VIII,
      We have five senses and five fingers and five toes. The starfish eats with five fingers.
    • 1916, The Finger Talk of Chicago's Wheat-Pit, Popular Science Monthly, Vol. 89, p. 81:
      Each finger extended represents one-eighth of a cent. Thus when all four fingers and the thumb are extended, all being spread out from one another, it means five-eighths.
    • 2014 March 29, “Don’t cramp my style”, The Economist, volume 410, number 8880: 
      In 1993 [Victor Candia] noticed that the fingers of his left hand were starting to curl up as he played [on his guitar]. It felt to him as if a magnet in his palm were preventing him from opening them. A week later, he could not play at all.
  2. A piece of food resembling such an extremity.
    chocolate fingers; fish fingers; cheese fingers
  3. Anything that does work of a finger, such as the pointer of a clock or watch, or a small projecting rod, wire, or piece in a mechanical device which is brought into contact with an object to effect, direct, or restrain a motion.
  4. (also finger pier) A walkway extending from a dock, an airport terminal, etc, used by passengers to board a waiting ship or aeroplane.
  5. An amount of liquid, usually alcohol, in a glass, with the depth of a finger's length.
    Hey buddy, is something bothering ya? Want me to pour you a finger?
  6. The breadth of a finger, or the fourth part of the hand; a measure of nearly an inch; also, the length of finger, a measure in domestic use in the United States, of about four and a half inches or one eighth of a yard.
    • Bishop John Wilkins (1614-1672)
      a piece of steel three fingers thick
  7. Skill in the use of the fingers, as in playing upon a musical instrument.

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from the noun finger

Translations[edit]

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

Verb[edit]

finger (third-person singular simple present fingers, present participle fingering, simple past and past participle fingered)

  1. (transitive) To identify or point out. Also put the finger on. To report to or identify for the authorities, rat on, rat out, squeal on, tattle on, turn in, to finger.
  2. (transitive) To poke or probe with a finger or fingers.
    • Shakespeare
      Let the papers lie; / You would be fingering them to anger me.
    • 2009, Win Blevins, Dreams Beneath Your Feet, page 135:
      Feeling tender around the face, she fingered herself gingerly. Yes, it was swollen, very sore around the cheekbones, with dried blood on the outsides of her eye sockets, below her nostrils, and below one ear.
  3. (transitive) To use the fingers to penetrate and sexually stimulate one's own or another person's vagina or anus; to fingerbang
    • 2007, Madeline Bastinado, A Talent for Surrender, page 201:
      She fingered him, spreading the gel and sliding the tip of her finger inside him.
    • 2008, Thomas Wainwright (editor), Erotic Tales, page 56:
      She smiled, a look of amazement on her face, as if thinking that maybe this was the cock that she had been fantasizing about just now, as she fingered herself to a massive, body-engulfing orgasm.
  4. (transitive, music) To use specified finger positions in producing notes on a musical instrument.
  5. (transitive, music) To provide instructions in written music as to which fingers are to be used to produce particular notes or passages.
  6. (transitive, computing) To query (a user's status) using the Finger protocol.
    • 1996, "Yves Bellefeuille", List of useful freeware, comp.archives.msdos.d, Usenet:
      PGP mail welcome (finger me for my key).
  7. (obsolete) To steal; to purloin.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  8. To execute, as any delicate work.

Translations[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

See also[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Danish[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Norse fingr, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz, from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷrós.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /fenɡər/, [ˈfeŋˀɐ]

Noun[edit]

finger c (singular definite fingeren, plural indefinite fingre)

  1. finger
Inflection[edit]
Inflection of finger
common
gender		 Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative finger fingeren fingre fingrene
genitive fingers fingerens fingres fingrenes
External links[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

See fingere (“to simulate”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /fenɡɡeːr/, [ˈfeŋɡ̊eːˀɐ̯], [ˈfeŋɡ̊eɐ̯ˀ]

Verb[edit]

finger or fingér

  1. imperative of fingere

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia no

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse fingr, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz, from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷrós.

Noun[edit]

finger m (definite singular fingeren, indefinite plural fingre or fingrer, definite plural fingrene)

  1. (anatomy) a finger

Related terms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse fingr, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz, from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷrós.

Noun[edit]

finger m (definite singular fingeren, indefinite plural fingrar, definite plural fingrane)

  1. (anatomy) a finger

Related terms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Old English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *fingraz, which is from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷrós, *penkʷ-ros, a suffixed form of *pénkʷe (“five”). Compare Old Frisian finger, Old Saxon fingar, Old High German fingar, Old Norse fingr, Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍂𐍃 (figgrs).

Noun[edit]

finger m

  1. finger

Old Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *fingraz, from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷrós. Compare Old English finger, Old Saxon fingar, Old High German fingar, Old Norse fingr.

Noun[edit]

finger m

  1. finger

Declension[edit]

Declension of finger (strong a-stem, masculine)
singular plural
nominative finger fingerar, fingera
accusative finger fingerar, fingera
genitive fingeres fingera
dative fingere fingerum, fingerem

Descendants[edit]

Swedish[edit]

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia sv

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse fingr, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz, from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷrós.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

finger n, c

  1. (anatomy) a finger (the body part)

Declension[edit]

Declension of finger
singular plural
Neuter indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative finger fingret fingrar fingrarna
genitive fingers fingrets fingrars fingrarnas
Declension of finger
singular plural
Common indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative finger fingern fingrar fingrarna
genitive fingers fingerns fingrars fingrarnas

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

West Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Frisian finger, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz, from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷrós. Compare English finger, Dutch vinger, Low German and German Finger, Danish finger.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

finger c (plural fingers)

  1. finger
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