# Fingers and toes



## Outsider

English has different words for these two notions. In Portuguese, there is only one, _dedos_. If we wish to specify that we're talking about toes, we have to say _dedos dos pés_, literally "foot fingers". How is this in your language?

Thanks in advance.


----------



## teachspanish

It is the same in Spanish...dedo = finger, dedo del pie = toe


----------



## Conchita57

German, like English, has two different words:

toes = Zehen
fingers = Finger

In Spanish, as in Portuguese, we have to specify: dedos de los pies.

In French, you can say 'orteils' or 'doigts de pieds'.


----------



## Lemminkäinen

Norwegian:

Finger: *finger* (pl. *fingre(r)/fingrar* - bokmål/nynorsk)
Toe: *tå* (pl. *tær*)

Russian:

Finger: *палец* (pl. *палецы*)
Toe: *палец ноги* (lit. 'foot/leg finger') - (pl. *палецы ноги*)


----------



## Outsider

Conchita57 said:


> In French, you can say 'orteils' or 'doigts de pieds'.


Très intéressant, je ne connaissais pas ce mot !


----------



## Frank06

Hi,
Nice question .

*Dutch* has:
- vingers (fingers)
- tenen (toes)

F


----------



## DrWatson

Finnish:

finger: *sormi* (plural: *sormet*)
toe: *varvas* (pl. *varpaat*)


----------



## Maja

In Serbian, there is also just one term: *prsti */ *прсти* (sg. prst / прст).

fingers - prsti na rukama / прсти на рукама
toes - prsti na nogama / прсти на ногама​


----------



## elroy

Arabic is like Portuguese.


----------



## endl3ss

In Tagalog: it's "Mga Daliri at Paa"


----------



## gao_yixing

Chinese:
finger:手指（shou zhi)
toe:脚趾(jiao zhi)
手 and 脚 means hand and foot. So...指 and 趾 alone can also stand for the finger and toe, and they sound the same.


----------



## Flaminius

*Japanese:*
finger: 手指 (te yubi) hand finger
toe: 足趾 (ashi yubi) foot finger

Quotidian language rarely makes this disinction as 趾 is used mainly in technical fields such as medicine and anatomy.  指/ゆび (yubi) is generally construed as including toes to the extent that 足指 (ashi yubi) can be seen frequently.

By the way, in Japanese framework of reference humans are considered to be in possession of 20 _yubi_, not 10 of them.


----------



## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish:
finger:* parmak
*toe:* ayak parmağı

Note that we do not specify finger, but toe.


----------



## susanb

*Catalan*

fingers: dits de la mà
toes: dits del peu


----------



## irene.acler

Italian:
Fingers = dita delle mani
Toes = dita dei piedi


----------



## andreiro

Romanian:
Fingers = degetele de la mâini
Toes = degetele de la picioare
deget(sing), degete(pl) = finger/toe
degetul(the finger), degetele(the fingers)


----------



## Etcetera

A correction:


Lemminkäinen said:


> Russian:
> 
> Finger: *палец* (pl. *пальцы*)
> Toe: *палец ноги* (lit. 'foot/leg finger') - (pl. *пальцы ноги*)


----------



## Lugubert

Flaminius said:


> By the way, in Japanese framework of reference humans are considered to be in possession of 20 _yubi_, not 10 of them.


That's interesting. Like in Roman languages, Latin seems to use _digit_ for fingers as well as for toes, but specifies 'fingers of the foot' for toes. I can translate those things, but don't remember the original Latin.

Like other Germanic languages, Swedish makes a difference: (sing/pl) finger/fingrar, tå/tår.

Also, I think some languages don't make a difference between foot and the lower leg including shin and foot, or hand vs. hand plus lower arm. Semitic experts welcome. Somebody with more time on their hands ;-) start a thread.


----------



## Lingvisten

Danish has seperate word like the other germanic languages:

sg/pl.
Finger/fingers - finger/fingre
Toe/toes - tå/tær


----------



## Stéphane89

Conchita57 said:


> German, like English, has two different words:
> 
> toes = Zehen
> fingers = Finger
> 
> In Spanish, as in Portuguese, we have to specify: dedos de los pies.
> 
> In French, you can say 'orteils' or 'doigts de pieds'.


 
In French, we call the fingers *"les doigts (de la main)"*.
*Orteils* only refers to the toes.


----------



## bb3ca201

Anns a’ Ghàidhlig nì sinn mar thusa.  Bì sinn ag ràdh “òrdag” airson “finger” agus “òrdagan na coise” airson “toe”.
In Gaelic, we do the same.  We say “òrdag” for finger, and “òrdag na coise” for toe.


----------



## mimi2

Vietnamese
Fingers and toes: ngón tay và ngón chân.


----------



## Abbassupreme

"Angosht"  for "finger" in Persian and apparently "panjeh" for "toe".  I swear I've heard "angoshte/angoshteye paa"  as well, though.


----------



## Alijsh

Abbassupreme said:


> "Angosht" for "finger" in Persian and apparently "panjeh" for "toe". I swear I've heard "angoshte/angoshteye paa" as well, though.


Dear Abbassupreme, we have the same word for both finger and toe: *angosht*. To specify "toe" we say: *angoshte pâ*. 

*panje* derives from *panj* (five). It means "the five fingers/toes".


----------



## Outsider

Here are some threads in other forums: 

All Slavic languages: Fingers and toes
Les doigts de pied / les orteils


----------



## HistofEng

*Haitian Creole* is somewhat similar to French:

zòtèy = toe
dwèt = finger


----------



## Nizo

*Esperanto*:

finger = *fingro*
toe = *piedfingro* [foot-finger]


----------



## theo1006

In *Indonesian* we have:
_jari tangan_ (fingers of hand)
_jari kaki_ (fingers of foot)
If someone just says _jari _it usually means fingers (of the hand).

You might think that _jari-jari_ is the plural of _jari_. However, the most common meaning of _jari-jari_ is the radius of a circle. Could also be the spokes of a wheel.


----------



## Benvindo

Outsider said:


> English has different words for these two notions. In Portuguese, there is only one, _dedos_. If we wish to specify that we're talking about toes, we have to say _dedos dos pés_, literally "foot fingers". How is this in your language?
> 
> Thanks in advance.


- - - -
Pelo que verifiquei numa pesquisa rápida na internet, apesar de ser considerado um galicismo desnecessário na opinião de muitos,  tem aumentado o uso da palavra artelho em português (do fr. orteil) como sinônimo de dedo do pé, junto com o significado original que a palavra tinha na língua, tornozelo.
BV


----------



## jazyk

Quem não gosta de dedo do pé ou artelho, pode ficar com pododáctilo.


----------



## Outsider

Wow, Slavic languages apparently have names for individual toes, too!


----------



## rusita preciosa

In English there are two different words:
*finger*
*toe*

Same in French:
*doigt* - finger
*orteil *- toe

In Russian we have the same word. So, if the context doesn't make it clear, we have to specify: 
*палец руки* /palets ruki/ - finger (literally, hand digit)
*палец ноги* /palets nogui/ - toe (foot digit)

In Spanish it is also seem to be the case: 
*dedo *- finger
*dedo* de pie - toe (foot digit)

How about your language?

*Moderator note:*
*This new thread is now merged to the previous one. Please don't forget to search the forum before opening a new thread. Thanks *


----------



## Tamar

In Hebrew it's the same word: אצבעות _etsba'ot_ (pl.)
Fingers - אצבעות ידיים _etsba'ot yada'im_.
Toes - אצבעות רגליים _etsba'ot ragla'im_.


----------



## Favara

Same in Catalan: *dit* /dit/ for both.
_Dit de la mà_. /'didde la'ma/ Lit.: "Digit of the hand".
_Dit del peu._ /'diddel pEw/ Lit.: "Digit of the foot".


----------



## jazyk

In Portuguese you say dedo for both finger and toe, but when it's necessary to differentiate, you can say _dedo da mão (digit of the hand) _e _dedo do pé _(digit of the foot).


----------



## apmoy70

In Greek:
Both fingers and toes are named the same->δάκτυλο ('ðaktilo, _neuter, sing._), δάκτυλα ('ðaktila, _neuter, plural_), from the ancient δάκτυλος ('ðaktūlŏs, _m._).
Δάκτυλα του χεριού (_or_ της χειρός)->fingers of the hand ('ðaktila tu çer'ʝu, _or_, tis çi'ros)
Δάκτυλα του ποδιού (_or_  του ποδός)->"fingers" of the foot ('ðaktila tu poð'ʝu, _or_, tu po'ðos)

[ð] is a voiced dental non-sibilant fricative
[ç] is a voiceless palatal fricative
[ʝ] is a voiced palatal fricative


----------



## sakvaka

In *Finnish* the words are different.

finger = _sormi_ (7)
toe = _varvas_ (41-E)


----------



## Encolpius

In *Hungarian *the words are the same: 

toe = ujj

finger = ujj


----------



## rusita preciosa

sakvaka said:


> finger = _sormi_ (7)
> toe = _varvas_ (41-E)


What are the misterious numbers after the words?


----------



## sakvaka

rusita preciosa said:


> What are the misterious numbers after the words?



Just declination/consonant gradation types, according to KOTUS (Research Institute of the Languages of Finland).


----------



## Not.A.Linguist

In Hindi, it's very different. All fingers have a different word for it. 

Angoothaa - Toe / Thumb
Tarjanee - Index Finger
Madhyamikaa - Middle finger
Anaamikaa - Ring Finger
Kanishthaa - Little finger

The distinction between Hands and Feet is made by adding the prefix "Paer Kaa" before a finger name to indicate referring to a foot finger.


----------



## rusita preciosa

Not.A.Linguist said:


> In Hindi, it's very different. All fingers have a different word for it.


How do you refer to fingers or toes collectively?


----------



## sokol

*German* differentiates between:

Finger = finger
Zehe = toe

By the way, all Slavic languages (well: I _*think*_ it's the same for all of them) don't differentiate. In *Slovene* it is:

prst = finger
prst (na nogi) = toe

(The word "palec" also exists in Slovene but it means "thumb".)
So even though Slovene makes use of a different word the principle is the same as in Russian.


----------



## Abu Rashid

In Arabic it's the same word for both: إصبع (iSba3), cognate with the Hebrew mentioned above.

Toes are distinguished specifically by saying إصبع القدم (iSba3 al-Qadam) which means literally "finger of the foot".


----------



## ElFrikiChino

In Italian it's the same word, but we specify if we're talking about hands or feet. Here it goes:

Fingers: dita delle mani
Toes: dita dei piedi

And of course every finger and toe has a different name


----------



## Orlin

Bulgarian: the word is the same - _пръст_. To avoid ambiguity, sometimes _на ръцете_ for fingers and _на краката _for toes is added.


----------



## Not.A.Linguist

rusita preciosa said:


> How do you refer to fingers or toes collectively?



Ungaliyaan


----------



## Agró

*In Basque*:
eri, eriak; hatz, hatzamar, hatzamarrak (finger, fingers)
behatz, behatzak (toe, toes)


----------



## Miguel Antonio

Outsider said:


> English has different words for these two notions. In Portuguese, there is only one, _dedos_. If we wish to specify that we're talking about toes, we have to say _dedos dos pés_, literally "foot fingers". How is this in your language?


This is what I always thought was the case for Galician too, and all my life I have heard it and used it this way, but the other day I learned that the official standard is:

Fingers: _dedos _(nm) 
Toes: _dedas._ (nf)


----------



## hollabooiers

It's two different words in *Estonian* as well.

Finger - sõrm (sõrmed for plural)
Toe - varvas (varbad for plural)


----------

