thumb

See also: -thumb, þumb, and Thumb

English

Picture dictionary

Palm

palm

wrist

thumb

index finger

middle finger

ring finger

pinky (US)

little finger

Click on labels in the image

Alternative forms

• thum, thume, thumbe (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English thombe, thoume, thoumbe, from Old English þūma, from Proto-West Germanic *þūmō, from Proto-Germanic *þūmô from Proto-Indo-European *tūm- (“to grow”).

See also West Frisian tomme, Dutch duim, Low German Duum, German Daumen, Danish tomme, Swedish tumme; also Welsh tyfu (“to grow”), Latin tumēre (“to swell”), Lithuanian tumėti (“to thicken, clot”), Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “burial mound”), Avestan 𐬀𐬨𐬏𐬙 (amūt, “strong”), Sanskrit तुम्र (túmra, “strong, thick”). The parasitic ‐b has existed since the late 13th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θʌm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌm

Noun

thumb (plural thumbs)

2. The short thick digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers.
3. (graphical user interface) The part of a slider that may be moved linearly along the slider.

   a scroll-bar thumb

4. (colloquial, Internet) A thumbnail picture.
   • 2001, Gary, “Wanna See Porn? Take a Look At These (Free Expandable Thumbs) - CLICK HERE”, in alt.sex.services (Usenet):

Synonyms

• (digit): pollex, digit I, first digit (anatomy); thumby (colloquial)

Hypernyms

• (digit): digit, finger

Hyponyms

• (digit): opposable thumb

Derived terms

Terms derived from thumb (noun)

• all fingers and thumbs
• all thumbs
• ball of the thumb
• bethumb
• bite one's thumb
• black thumb
• brown thumb
• Chinese thumb cuff
• e-thumb
• fash one's thumb
• get the thumb
• green thumb
• hop-o'-my-thumb
• lady's thumb
• miller's thumb
• Mother Thumb and her four daughters
• Nintendo thumb
• opposable thumb
• rule of thumb
• stand out like a sore thumb
• stick out like a sore thumb
• suck out of one's thumb
• tearthumb
• thimble
• thumbable
• thumb a lift
• thumb a ride
• thumb-a-war
• thumb blue
• thumbboard
• thumb drive
• thumber
• thumb fight
• thumbhole
• thumb index
• thumb-indexed
• thumbkin
• thumb knot
• thumbless
• thumblike
• thumbling
• thumbmark
• thumbmarked
• Thumb Master
• thumbnail
• thumbnut
• thumb on the scale
• thumb on the scales
• thumb-over
• thumbpad
• thumb piano
• thumbpick
• thumbpiece
• thumb position
• thumbpot
• thumbprint
• thumbprinted
• thumb-ring
• thumb ring
• thumbsbreadth
• thumbscrew
• thumbshot
• thumb-sketch
• thumb sketch
• thumb splitter
• thumbstall
• thumbstick
• thumb stone
• thumbstroke
• thumbsucker
• thumbsucking
• thumbs up
• thumbtack
• thumb tip
• thumb-toe
• thumb war
• thumbwheel
• thumbwheel
• thumb wrestle
• Tom Thumb
• Tom Thumb golf
• tweak of the thumb
• under one's thumb
• under the thumb

 

Translations

digit

• Abkhaz: анацәаду (anacʷadu)
• Afrikaans: duim (af)
• Alabama: ilbossiki
• Albanian: gisht i madh, gisht i madh i dorës, pulqer (sq)
• Arabic: إِبْهَام (ar) m (ʔibhām)

  Egyptian Arabic: إبهام m (ʔibhām)

• Aragonese: pulgar m
• Aramaic: ܟܪܬܐ (kartāʾ)
• Armenian: բութ մատ (butʻ mat)
• Aromanian: pilicar n, pulicar n
• Asturian: pulgar (ast), dedón (ast), deda (ast), matapioyos (ast)
• Avar: буртӏинкилищ (burtʼinkilišš)
• Azerbaijani: baş barmaq
• Baatonum: atankparu
• Bashkir: баш бармаҡ (baş barmaq)
• Basque: erpuru, hatz lodi
• Belarusian: вялі́кі па́лец m (vjalíki páljec)
• Bengali: বুড়া আঙ্গুল (bn) (buṛa aṅgul), অঙ্গুষ্ঠ (bn) (oṅguśṭho)
• Bhojpuri: अंगूठा (aṅgūṭhā)
• Bikol Central: tanggugurang, tanggurangan (bcl), tangan (bcl)
• Bolinao: tangan
• Breton: biz-meud (br) m, bizied-meud (br) m pl; meud (br) m, meudoù (br) m pl
• Brunei Malay: ibu jari
• Bulgarian: па́лец (bg) m (pálec)
• Burmese: လက်မ (my) (lakma.), ဒေါက်တို (my) (dauktui)
• Catalan: polze (ca) m
• Cebuano: kumagko
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 手指公 (sau² zi² gung¹)

  Hakka: 手指公 (sú-chṳ́-kûng), 手指頭 / 手指头 (sú-chṳ́-thèu)

  Hokkien: 大頭拇 / 大头拇 (zh-min-nan) (tōa-thâu-bú, tōa-thâu-bó), 指頭拇公 / 指头拇公 (zh-min-nan) (chéng-thâu-bú-kong, chńg-thâu-bú-kong), 大拇翁 (tōa-bó-ong), 大捗拇 (tōa-pō͘-bú), 大捗翁 (tōa-pu-ong), 指頭拇 / 指头拇 (chńg-thâu-bó, chéng-thâu-bó, chín-thâu-bó), 大富翁 (tōa-pù-ong), 大拇頭 / 大拇头 (tōa-bú-thâu, tōa-bó-thâu), 指頭公 / 指头公 (chéng-thâu-kong, chńg-thâu-kong), 大拇公 (tōa-bó-kong, tōa-bú-kong)

  Mandarin: 大拇指 (zh) (dàmuzhǐ), 拇指 (zh) (mǔzhǐ), 大指 (zh) (dàzhǐ), 大拇哥 (zh) (dàmǔgē) (slang)

• Classical Nahuatl: huēyi mahpilli
• Coptic: ⲧⲏⲃ ⲛⲧⲓⲛⲓ m (tēb ntini)
• Czech: palec (cs) m
• Danish: tommelfinger (da), tommeltot
• Daur: xereg
• Dhivehi: ބޮޑުވައި އިގިލި (boḍuvai igili)
• Dolgan: эрбэк (erbek), улакан чөмүйэ (ulakan çömüye)
• Dupaningan Agta: agradis
• Dutch: duim (nl) m
• Erzya: пелька (peľka)
• Esperanto: polekso (eo), dikfingro
• Estonian: pöial (et)
• Faroese: tummil m, tummilfingur m
• Finnish: peukalo (fi)
• French: pouce (fr) m

  Old French: polz, pouz

• Friulian: poleâr
• Galician: polgar (gl) m, escachapiollos m, matapiollos (gl) m
• Georgian: ცერი (ceri)
• German: Daumen (de) m
• Greek: αντίχειρας (el) m (antícheiras)

  Ancient: ἀντίχειρ m (antíkheir)

• Greenlandic: kulloq
• Gujarati: અંગૂઠો (gu) (aṅgūṭho)
• Haitian Creole: pous
• Hebrew: אגודל (he) (agudál)
• Hindi: अंगूठा (aṅgūṭhā)
• Hungarian: hüvelykujj (hu)
• Icelandic: þumall (is) m, þumalfingur (is) m
• Ido: polexo (io)
• Ilocano: tangan
• Indonesian: ibu jari (id), jempol (id), empu jari (id), biang jari (id), induk jari (id)
• Ingrian: peukalo, täintappaja (childish)
• Interlingua: pollice
• Inuktitut: ᑯᓪᓗ (kollo)
• Irish: ordóg (ga) f

  Old Irish: ordu f

• Italian: pollice (it) m, dito grosso m
• Japanese: 親指 (ja) (おやゆび, oyayubi)
• Javanese: jempol (jv)
• Kabuverdianu: dedon, dedóna
• Kalasha: ǰeṣṭ ạ́ŋgu
• Kalmyk: эркә (erkä)
• Kapampangan: tindaragul
• Karelian: peigalo
• Kazakh: бас бармақ (bas barmaq)
• Khiamniungan Naga: phōhkhò nyù
• Khmer: មេដៃ (mei day)
• Korean: 엄지 (ko) (eomji), 엄지손가락 (ko) (eomjison'garak)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئەسپێکوژە (ckb) (espêkuje)

  Northern Kurdish: please add this translation if you can

• Kyrgyz: баш бармак (baş barmak)
• Latgalian: eikss m
• Latin: pollex (manūs) m
• Latvian: īkšķis
• Lithuanian: nykštys m
• Low German: Dumen (nds) m, Duum m
• Luxembourgish: Daum (lb) m
• Macedonian: палец m (palec)
• Malay: ibu jari (ms), jempol, empu jari, biang jari, induk jari
• Maltese: saba’ l-kbir m
• Manchu: ᡶᡝᡵᡥᡝ (ferhe), ᡶᡝᡵᡥᡝ
  ᠰᡳᠮᡥᡠᠨ (ferhe simhun)
• Maori: kōnui
• Marathi: अंगठा (aṅgṭhā)
• Marwari: अंगुठौ (aṅguṭhau)
• Megleno-Romanian: pulicar
• Middle English: thombe
• Mokilese: jaidlap
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: эрхий (mn) (erxii)

  Mongolian: ᠡᠷᠡᠬᠡᠢ (erekei)

• Navajo: álátsoh
• Ngazidja Comorian: shaya sha koo class 7/8
• Nias: turu sebua (nia)
• Nogai: бас бармак (bas barmak)
• Norman: ponchet m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tommel (no) m, tommelfinger m

  Nynorsk: tommel m, tommelfinger m

• Occitan: poce (oc) m, pulgar (oc) m
• Ojibwe: midechininj
• Old Church Slavonic: пальць m (palĭcĭ)
• Old English: þūma m
• Oromo: abbuudduu
• Ossetian: хистӕр ӕнгуылдз (xistær æng°ylʒ)
• Ottoman Turkish: باش پرمق (baš parmak)
• Pangasinan: tangan
• Pannonian Rusyn: вельки палєц m (velʹki paljec)
• Pennsylvania German: Daume m
• Persian: ابهام (fa) (ebhâm), شست (fa) (šast)
• Piedmontese: pòle m
• Pitjantjatjara: maṟa mama
• Plautdietsch: Düme m
• Polish: kciuk (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: dedo polegar (pt) m, polegar (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਅੰਗੂਠਾ (pa) (aṅgūṭhā)
• Romanian: deget mare n, policar (ro)
• Russian: большо́й па́лец (ru) m (bolʹšój pálec)
• Sami:

  Inari: pelgi

  Northern: bealgi

  Skolt: peä´lǧǧ

  Southern: bielkie

• Sanskrit: अङ्गुष्ठ (sa) (aṅguṣṭha)
• Scots: thoum
• Scottish Gaelic: òrdag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: палац m

  Roman: palac (sh) m

• Sicilian: puseri (scn)
• Slovak: palec m
• Slovene: palec (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wjeliki palc m

• Southern Altai: эргек (ergek), башпарак (bašparak)
• Southern Kalinga: paama
• Spanish: pulgar (es) m, pólice m, dedo gordo m, dedo pulgar m
• Sundanese: jempol (su)
• Swahili: kidole gumba
• Swedish: tumme (sv) c
• Tagalog: hinlalaki n
• Tarifit: ikmez m, iymez m
• Telugu: బొటనవేలు (boṭanavēlu)
• Thai: นิ้วโป้ง (níu-bpôong), หัวแม่มือ (hǔua-mɛ̂ɛ-mʉʉ), นิ้วหัวแม่มือ (th) (níu-hǔua-mɛ̂ɛ-mʉʉ)
• Tibetan: མཐེ་བོང (mthe bong), མཐེ་པོ (mthe po)
• Tigrinya: ዓባይ ዓባይቶ (ʿabay ʿabayto)
• Tocharian B: mokoce
• Turkish: başparmak (tr) m
• Turkmen: başam barmak (tk)
• Tuvan: матпаадыр (matpaadır)
• Udmurt: пӧлы (pöly)
• Ukrainian: вели́кий па́лець m (velýkyj pálecʹ)
• Venetan: masapeoci, dedón, deolón
• Vietnamese: ngón tay cái (vi)
• Volapük: döm (vo)
• Waray-Waray: tamuragko
• Welsh: bawd (cy) m or f
• West Coast Bajau: indung
• West Frisian: tomme
• Winnebago: šaak hoxete
• Woiwurrung: ba-bourn marnang
• Yakut: эрбэх (erbeq)
• Yiddish: גראָבער פֿינגער m (grober finger)
• Yoruba: àtàǹpàkò
• Yup'ik: asaun, ayaun, kul'u

part of a slider

• Finnish: liu’utin
• Greek: εγκοπή ευρετηρίασης f (egkopí evretiríasis)
• Norwegian: tommeskrue m

Verb

thumb (third-person singular simple present thumbs, present participle thumbing, simple past and past participle thumbed)

1. (transitive) To touch or cover with the thumb.

   to thumb the touch-hole of a cannon

   • 2022 November 15, Patrick Wintour, “Sergei Lavrov, a fixture of Russian diplomacy facing his toughest test in Ukraine”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     News agencies reported Lavrov had been sent to hospital for a checkup, only for the Russian foreign ministry to rush out a picture of Lavrov in shorts, sporting an Apple watch and Jean-Michel Basquiat-inspired T-shirt, thumbing his notes for his first address at the summit on Tuesday.

2. (transitive, with through) To turn the pages of (a book) in order to read it cursorily.

   Synonyms: peruse (in one of its senses), flip through

   thumb through

   I thumbed through the book and decided not to bother reading it all.

   • 1948 March and April, “Notes and News: Lines in County Donegal”, in Railway Magazine, page 129:

     It is also disconcerting when you suddenly realise that the driver isn't steering, but may be thumbing over his Customs papers with his feet up.

3. (travel) To hitchhike

   So I started thumbin' back east, toward my hometown.

   • 1969, Kris Kristofferson, Fred Foster, Me and Bobby McGee:

     Bobby thumbed a diesel down, just before it rained.

   • 1980, Kye Fleming, Dennis Morgan, Smoky Mountain Rain:

     Thumbed a diesel down, outside a cafe.

4. To soil or wear with the thumb or the fingers; to soil, or wear out, by frequent handling.
   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     He gravely informed the enemy that all his cards had been thumbed to pieces, and begged them to let him have a few more packs.

5. To manipulate (an object) with the thumb; especially, to pull back the hammer or open the cylinder of a revolver.
   • 2009, Jon Sharp, The Trailsman #337: Silver Showdown:

     Fargo palmed out his own revolver, thumbing back the hammer as the barrel came up.

   • 2015, Tony Monchinski, Bad Men (I Kill Monsters Book 3):

     Rainford reached down and found the revolver. Thumbing the cylinder open, he inspected the load.

   • 2015, Don Fitzsimmons, If You Need a Laugh:

     Andy opened the revolver, thumbed in a cartridge.

6. To fire (a single action revolver) quickly by pulling the hammer while keeping the trigger depressed.
   • 2011, Hans-Christian Vortisch, GURPS Tactical Shooting, page 14:

     To thumb a single-action revolver, hold down the trigger and use the thumb on the same hand to fire the gun by manipulating the hammer.

Synonyms

• (to turn pages): browse, leaf, page, peruse

Derived terms

Terms derived from thumb (verb)

• thumb one's nose
• thumb a lift
• thumb a ride
• thumb down
• thumb through
• well-thumbed

Related terms

• (firing a single action revolver via hammer flicks while trigger is held down) fanning (using opposite hand instead of thumb)

Translations

touch with the thumb

• Finnish: koskea peukalolla, peukaloida (fi)
• Russian: мусо́лить (ru) (musólitʹ) (make dirty by extensive use)

turn the pages of (a book) in order to read it cursorily

• Bulgarian: прелиствам (prelistvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 翻閱 / 翻阅 (zh) (fānyuè)

• Finnish: selailla (fi)
• French: feuilleter (fr)
• German: durchblättern (de)
• Russian: листа́ть (ru) (listátʹ), проли́стывать (ru) (prolístyvatʹ), перели́стывать (ru) (perelístyvatʹ)
• Turkish: sayfaları karıştırmak (tr)

Albanian

Alternative forms

• thumbi, thump

Etymology

From *thon (“(finger)nail”) (modern thua). More at thua.

Noun

thumb m (plural thumba)

1. stinger (of a bee)
2. thorn, prick
3. bell clapper, tongue (of bell)
4. tack, thumbtack, shoe tack (spike)
5. point of arrowhead, spiked tip of a goad or prod

Derived terms

• thumbull

Middle English

Alternative forms

• þumb

Noun

thumb (plural thumbes)

1. Alternative form of þombe (“thumb”)