finger

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun any of the terminal members of the hand (sometimes excepting the thumb)
  2. noun the length of breadth of a finger used as a linear measure
  3. noun one of the parts of a glove that provides covering for a finger or thumb

Etymology

PIE word *pénkʷe From Middle English fynger, finger, from Old English finger (“finger”), from Proto-West Germanic *fingr, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz (“finger”), from Proto-Indo-European *penkʷrós, from *pénkʷe (“five”). Compare West Frisian finger, Low German/German Finger, Dutch vinger, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish finger; also Old Armenian հինգեր-որդ (hinger-ord, “fifth”). More at five.

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