Etymograph

English

finger

Finger comes from Old English finger, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *penkʷrós, which is related to the word for ‘five’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*penkʷrós1uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fingraz1‘finger’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fingr1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150finger1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fynger1‘a finger’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1591finger1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English finger
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona: “Goe, get you gone: and let the papers lye:…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*penkʷrósWiktionary, English fingeruncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fingrazWiktionary, English finger‘finger’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fingrWiktionary, English fingerreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fingerWiktionary, English finger
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fyngerWiktionary, English finger‘a finger’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1591fingerWiktionary, English finger. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona: “Goe, get you gone: and let the papers lye:…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with finger, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe ‘five’

  • five ← fyf ← fīf ← *fimf ← *fimf
  • fifth ← fifthe ← fīfta ← *fimftô ← *penkʷtós
  • punch ← पाँच ← پانچ ← पंच ← 𑀧𑀁𑀘
  • pentagon ← pentagone ← pentagōnum ← πεντάγωνον ← πεντάγωνος
  • pimp ← *pɨmp ← *kʷenkʷe
  • fin ← פֿינף ← vünf ← fimf ← *fimf
  • quintet ← quintette ← quintetto ← quinto ← quintus
  • quint ← quīntus ← quīnctus ← *kʷenktos ← *penkʷtós
  • cinque ← cynk ← cinq ← quīnque ← *kʷenkʷe
  • quine ← quīnī ← quīnus

22 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A slender jointed extremity of the human hand, (often) exclusive of the thumb, and the corresponding part, irrespective of including a thumb, in many other animals.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “finger”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *penkʷrós / finger