Afrikaans vinger | ||
Albanian gishtin | ||
Amharic ጣት | ||
Arabic اصبع اليد | ||
Armenian մատը | ||
Assamese আঙুলি | ||
Aymara luk'ana | ||
Azerbaijani barmaq | ||
Bambara bolokɔni | ||
Basque hatz | ||
Belarusian палец | ||
Bengali আঙুল | ||
Bhojpuri अंगुरी | ||
Bosnian prst | ||
Bulgarian пръст на ръката | ||
Catalan dit | ||
Cebuano tudlo | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 手指 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 手指 | ||
Corsican ditu | ||
Croatian prst | ||
Czech prst | ||
Danish finger | ||
Dhivehi އިނގިލި | ||
Dogri उंगली | ||
Dutch vinger | ||
English finger | ||
Esperanto fingro | ||
Estonian sõrm | ||
Ewe asibidɛ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) daliri | ||
Finnish sormi | ||
French doigt | ||
Frisian finger | ||
Galician dedo | ||
Georgian თითი | ||
German finger | ||
Greek δάχτυλο | ||
Guarani kuã | ||
Gujarati આંગળી | ||
Haitian Creole dwèt | ||
Hausa yatsa | ||
Hawaiian manamana lima | ||
Hebrew אֶצבַּע | ||
Hindi उंगली | ||
Hmong tus ntiv tes | ||
Hungarian ujj | ||
Icelandic fingur | ||
Igbo mkpịsị aka | ||
Ilocano ramay | ||
Indonesian jari | ||
Irish méar | ||
Italian dito | ||
Japanese 指 | ||
Javanese driji | ||
Kannada ಬೆರಳು | ||
Kazakh саусақ | ||
Khmer ម្រាមដៃ | ||
Kinyarwanda urutoki | ||
Konkani बोट | ||
Korean 손가락 | ||
Krio finga | ||
Kurdish tilî | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) پەنجە | ||
Kyrgyz манжа | ||
Lao ນິ້ວມື | ||
Latin digitus | ||
Latvian pirkstu | ||
Lingala mosapi | ||
Lithuanian pirštu | ||
Luganda engalo | ||
Luxembourgish fanger | ||
Macedonian прст | ||
Maithili उंगली | ||
Malagasy rantsan- | ||
Malay jari | ||
Malayalam വിരല് | ||
Maltese subgħajk | ||
Maori matimati | ||
Marathi बोट | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯈꯨꯠꯁꯥ | ||
Mizo kutzungtang | ||
Mongolian хуруу | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) လက်ချောင်း | ||
Nepali औंला | ||
Norwegian finger | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) chala | ||
Odia (Oriya) ଆଙ୍ଗୁଠି | ||
Oromo quba | ||
Pashto ګوته | ||
Persian انگشت | ||
Polish palec | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) dedo | ||
Punjabi ਉਂਗਲ | ||
Quechua rukana | ||
Romanian deget | ||
Russian палец | ||
Samoan tamailima | ||
Sanskrit अङ्गुली | ||
Scots Gaelic mheur | ||
Sepedi monwana | ||
Serbian прст | ||
Sesotho monoana | ||
Shona chigunwe | ||
Sindhi آر | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) ඇඟිල්ල | ||
Slovak prstom | ||
Slovenian prst | ||
Somali farta | ||
Spanish dedo | ||
Sundanese ramo | ||
Swahili kidole | ||
Swedish finger | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) daliri | ||
Tajik ангушт | ||
Tamil விரல் | ||
Tatar бармак | ||
Telugu వేలు | ||
Thai นิ้ว | ||
Tigrinya ኣፃብዕቲ | ||
Tsonga ritiho | ||
Turkish parmak | ||
Turkmen barmak | ||
Twi (Akan) nsatea | ||
Ukrainian палець | ||
Urdu انگلی | ||
Uyghur بارماق | ||
Uzbek barmoq | ||
Vietnamese ngón tay | ||
Welsh bys | ||
Xhosa umnwe | ||
Yiddish פינגער | ||
Yoruba ika | ||
Zulu umunwe |
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | "Vinger" in Afrikaans can also refer to "hand" or "toe" |
| Albanian | The Albanian word "gishtin" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *gʰes-, meaning "to grasp". |
| Amharic | The word "ጣት" also means "branch" or "offshoot" in Amharic, highlighting its connection to the idea of extension or growth that is also inherent in the concept of a finger. |
| Arabic | The word "finger" in Arabic, "اصبع اليد," refers to the digits of the hand and has a metaphorical meaning of indicating or pointing to something. |
| Armenian | The word "մատը" in Armenian can also refer to the toes. |
| Azerbaijani | The word "barmaq" also signifies a measurement unit equal to 1/24 of the Azerbaijani arshin |
| Basque | The Basque term "hatz" can also mean "ten", as in the phrase "hamar hatz" ("ten fingers"). |
| Belarusian | The word "палец" (finger) in Belarusian derives from "paliti" (to burn) and originally referred to the burnt end of a stick used as a torch. |
| Bengali | The word "আঙুল" literally means "something to measure" in Bengali. |
| Bosnian | The word "prst" also refers to the digit or number "one" in Bosnian. |
| Bulgarian | The word "пръст на ръката" has an alternate meaning of "a toe". |
| Catalan | The word "dit" in Catalan also refers to the digit of a number (as in English "two digits") or to a small amount of money. |
| Cebuano | In Proto-Austronesian, "tudlo" meant "to point with the index finger" or "to show direction" |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "手指" (finger) literally means "pointing to hands" and is used as slang in China referring to someone being manipulated by another, typically by a higher power. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 手指, can also mean a person's influence or power, as in "伸手指" (to exert influence) |
| Corsican | Corsican 'ditu' also means 'digit' and derives from Latin 'dictum', 'thing said'. |
| Croatian | The Croatian word "prst" derives from Proto-Slavic *pьrstъ, which also means "toe". |
| Czech | Prst also refers to the toe or a digit in a phone number in Czech. |
| Danish | The word 'finger' in Danish is derived from the Old Norse word 'fingr', which also means 'toe'. |
| Dutch | "Vinger" is a contraction of "vingher", meaning "seizer" or "grasper" in Dutch. |
| Esperanto | “Fingro” means both “finger” and the Roman numeral “V” (five). |
| Estonian | The Estonian word "sõrm" has cognates in other Finno-Ugric languages, such as Finnish "sormi" and Hungarian "ujj" |
| Finnish | The word "sormi" likely derives from the Proto-Finnic word "sormi*, which meant "object" or "thing". |
| French | The word "doigt" comes from the Latin word "digitus", meaning "toe" or "finger". |
| Frisian | The Frisian word for "finger" has also the meaning "toe." |
| Galician | The word "dedo" in Galician can also mean "toe". |
| Georgian | The word "თითი" (thithi) in Georgian is derived from the Old Georgian word "თითი" (thithi), which itself is derived from the Proto-Kartvelian root "*ded-," meaning "to hold." |
| German | "Finger" (finger) is also used to indicate a unit of measure used to calculate beer foam. |
| Greek | "Δάχτυλο" (finger) comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *dʰek-, meaning "to point" or "to show". |
| Haitian Creole | The word "dwèt" in Haitian Creole is derived from the French word "doigt", ultimately stemming from the Latin word "digitus". |
| Hausa | The word "yatsa" (finger) in Hausa has alternative meanings like "limb", "leaf", or "branch". |
| Hawaiian | The Hawaiian word 'manamana lima' also means 'to pick one's nose'. |
| Hebrew | "אֶצבַּע" is cognate with "עָצֵב", meaning "sorrow" or "pain", and also with "צֵבַע" and "צֶבַע", meaning "color" or "paint." |
| Hindi | The word "उंगली" likely derives from the Prakrit word "अंगुलि" (anguli), meaning "a part" or "a limb", and is cognate with the Latin word "unguis" (nail). |
| Hmong | The word "tus ntiv tes" can also be used as a term of endearment for a child or a sibling. |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word "ujj" (finger) is thought to derive from a Uralic root meaning "branch" or "shoot." |
| Icelandic | The Icelandic word "fingur" has cognates in other Germanic languages and is also related to the Latin word "digitus" |
| Igbo | The alternate meanings of the Igbo word "mkpịsị aka" include "skill, ability" and "the person who possesses such abilities." |
| Indonesian | In Javanese vocabulary "jari" refers also to a line of descent in a genealogy. |
| Irish | "Méar" comes from the Proto-Indo-European root "*mey-", meaning "to grasp". Its alternate meaning, "toe", derives from its use to refer to the smaller "fingers" of the foot. |
| Italian | The word "dito" is also used as a synonym for "fingerprint" in Italian. |
| Japanese | 指 is also a unit of length, equivalent to about 1.8cm. |
| Javanese | Driji can also mean one's own child, and is sometimes used in that sense as an endearment. |
| Kannada | "ಬೆರಳು" also means "toe" in Kannada, and also has a connotation of measuring with a thumb-sized unit. |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "саусақ" also refers to a type of traditional Kazakh sausage. |
| Khmer | The word "ម្រាមដៃ" also metaphorically refers to a person's skill or expertise, particularly in the context of a particular activity or craft. |
| Korean | "손가락" literally means "hand branch" in Korean. |
| Kurdish | The word "tilî" in Kurdish is also used to refer to the big toe, and may be related to the word "til" meaning "thread". |
| Kyrgyz | The word 'манжа' ('finger') in Kyrgyz language also has the alternate meaning of 'branch' in the context of a tree. |
| Lao | The Lao word ນິ້ວມື (finger) shares some etymological roots with the Thai word นิ้วมือ (finger), both deriving from the Proto-Tai word *timɔːŋ |
| Latin | "Digitus" also refers to a unit of measure roughly equivalent to a finger's width, known as "digital" in English. |
| Latvian | In Latvian, the word "pirkstu" can also refer to a toe or a digit on a hand or foot. |
| Lithuanian | Pirštu is also used in Lithuanian to describe the |
| Luxembourgish | The Luxembourgish word "Fanger" can also refer to a thimble or a finger puppet. |
| Macedonian | The word "прст" (finger) in Macedonian also refers to a unit of measurement equal to about 1.9 centimeters. |
| Malagasy | In Merina folklore, "rantsan-dako" is a mythical creature having many thumbs as fingers. |
| Malay | The word "jari" is also used in Malay to refer to the toe. |
| Malayalam | The word 'വിരല്' (finger) in Malayalam is derived from the Proto-Dravidian word '*viru' and is related to the Tamil word 'விரல்' (finger) and the Kannada word 'ಬೆರಳು' (finger). |
| Maltese | The word "subgħajk" comes from the Arabic word "suba`" meaning "finger" and is used in Maltese to refer specifically to the index finger. |
| Maori | In Maori, the word "matimati" can also mean "end" or "tip", referring to the outermost part of a finger. |
| Marathi | बोट ('finger' in Marathi) is also a unit of measurement approximately equal to 1.85 centimeters. |
| Mongolian | хуруу has a double meaning, meaning either 'finger' or 'stringed instrument' |
| Nepali | In Nepali, "औंला" not only refers to the digit on a hand, but it can also mean a measurement of length, approximately equal to one finger-width (~1.8-2 cm). |
| Norwegian | In Norwegian, "finger" can mean both a finger on your hand and a small, narrow branch on a tree. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | In Nyanja (Chichewa), "chala" also means "branch" or "sprout" and is related to the verb "kubzala," meaning "to grow" or "to sprout." |
| Pashto | "ګوته" can also mean "the trigger of a gun" or "the index finger" |
| Persian | انگشت also means "number" in colloquial Persian. |
| Polish | The word "palec" may also refer to the little toe or a similar digit on an animal's foot. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word "dedo" can also refer to the "hand", a "person's foot" or the "toe". |
| Punjabi | The word "ਉਂਗਲ" is also used to refer to the lines or markings on the palm of the hand. |
| Romanian | Deget also refers to the number 10, from the Latin 'digitus', which means 'finger' or 'number 10'. |
| Russian | "Палец" can also refer to a finger-like projectile, such as an artillery shell. |
| Samoan | The Samoan word 'tamailima', meaning 'finger', literally translates to 'child of the hand'. |
| Scots Gaelic | The Scots Gaelic mheur "finger" also refers to a finger-like object. |
| Serbian | The Serbian word "prst" is cognate with the English word "first", both deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root *per- "forward". |
| Sesotho | The word "monoana" also means "a person who plays the drum". |
| Shona | The word "chigunwe" also means "a single part of something that is divided into several parts". |
| Sindhi | The word 'آر' (finger) in Sindhi may also refer to the number 'ten' or a type of flute. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhala word 'ඇඟිල්ල' is also used to refer to the digits on the hands of other primates and the toes on the feet of humans or other animals. |
| Slovak | The Slovak word "prstom" also means "with a finger" or "by finger". |
| Slovenian | The word "prst" in Slovenian is cognate with the Latin word "primus," meaning "first," indicating the thumb's position as the outermost finger. |
| Somali | The Somali word "farta" ultimately derives from Arabic "ifrat" and also means "branch" in Amharic. |
| Spanish | The word "dedo" also means "toe" in Spanish and comes from the Latin word "digitus" meaning "digit". |
| Sundanese | The Sundanese word "ramo" meaning "finger" derives from the Old Javanese word "ramon" which can mean either "finger" or "branch". |
| Swahili | The word "kidole" is also used in Swahili to refer to a "child" or "infant". |
| Swedish | In Swedish, the word "finger" is also used to refer to the hand, wrist, or forearm. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | In the Philippine language Tagalog, the word "daliri" is a homonym that also refers to a measurement unit of length equivalent to a finger's width. |
| Tajik | The word "ангушт" can also refer to the thumb or toe. |
| Tamil | In Tamil, "விரல்" can also refer to a "branch" or a "spoke on a wheel". |
| Telugu | వేలు (finger) may also refer to the number 100,000 in Telugu. |
| Thai | The Thai word 'นิ้ว' is also used to mean 'toe'. |
| Turkish | Parmak, meaning 'finger' in Turkish, is also used as a verb to describe the act of pointing or touching something with one's finger. |
| Ukrainian | "Палець" - the fifth (little) finger (from Ancient Slavic - "thumb", Latin - "pollex", from "palm" - "palma") |
| Urdu | "انگلی" is also used to refer to a "digit" in mathematics or a "key" on a musical instrument |
| Uzbek | The word "barmoq" is also used to refer to the branches of a tree or the spokes of a wheel in Uzbek. |
| Vietnamese | "Ngón tay" is an Old Sino-Vietnamese term formed from Cantonese "ang1 ji3" meaning "hand finger". In modern Cantonese, the word for "finger" (手指) has the same pronunciation but a different etymology, "shou3 ji1" (hand finger). |
| Welsh | “Bys” also means “purpose” in Welsh, implying that our fingers serve a purpose beyond simply pointing. |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word 'umnwe' can also refer to other objects resembling human fingers, such as branches or sticks, and may be used to refer to the numbers ten, eleven, twelve and so on ('ishumi nanye' = 11, 'ishumi mbili' = 12). |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "פינגער" is also used to refer to a person's index finger. |
| Yoruba | "Ika" literally means "something to eat with". |
| Zulu | The Zulu word "umunwe" is cognate with the Proto-Nguni word "*umnwe" and means both "finger" and "the first joint of the finger next to the fingernail." |
| English | The word 'finger' originates from the Proto-Germanic 'fingraz' meaning 'five', and also relates to the Latin 'quinque' meaning the same. |