Etymology
77 entries found.

finger (v.)

early 15c., "to touch or point to with the finger" (but see fingering (n.1) from late 14c.), from finger (n.). Sense of "play upon a musical instrument" is from 1510s. Meaning "touch or take thievishly" is from 1520s. The meaning "identify a criminal" is underworld slang first recorded 1930. Related: Fingered; fingering. Compare Dutch vingeren, German fingern, Swedish fingra, all from their respective nouns.

finger (n.)

"terminal or digital member of the hand" (in a restricted sense not including the thumb), Old English finger, fingor "finger," from Proto-Germanic *fingraz (source also of Old Saxon fingar, Old Frisian finger, Old Norse fingr, Dutch vinger, German Finger, Gothic figgrs "finger"), with no cognates outside Germanic; perhaps ultimately from PIE root *penkwe- "five." As a unit of measure for liquor and gunshot (late Old English) it represents the breadth of a finger, about three-quarters of an inch. They generally are numbered from the thumb outward, and named index finger, fool's finger, leech- or physic-finger, and ear-finger.

finger-board (n.)

of a violin, etc., 1670s, from finger (n.) + board (n.1).

finger-nail (n.)

also fingernail, early 13c., from finger (n.) + nail (n.).

finger-tip (n.)

also fingertip, 1817, from finger (n.) + tip (n.). Related: Fingertips. To have something at one's fingertips is from 1870.

light-fingered (adj.)

"thievish, dexterous in taking," 1540s, from light (adj.1) + finger (n.).

fingerless (adj.)

1822, of gloves, from finger (n.) + -less.

butter-fingered (adj.)

"clumsy in the use of the hands, apt to let things fall," 1610s, from butter (n.) + finger (n.).

forefinger (n.)

mid-15c., from fore- + finger (n.). So called because it is considered the first next to the thumb. A Middle English name for it was lickpot (late 14c.).

fingering (n.1)

"action or method of using the fingers in playing a musical instrument," late 14c., fyngerynge, noun of action from finger (v.). Mid-15c. as "action of touching lightly."
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