thumb
/ˈθʌm/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.01 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The shortest and thickest 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.
noun
A top hatch plate for covering an excavator bucket, used to keep material in the digger bucket after scooping it up, and not letting it spill out.
verb
To gesture with the thumb, for example when flagging a ride.
verb
To hitchhike.
Example Sentences
- "a scroll-bar thumb"
- "to thumb the touch-hole of a cannon"
- "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."
- "thumb through"
- "I thumbed through the book and decided not to bother reading it all."
- "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."
Etymology
Derived from Middle English thombe, thoume, thoumbe (“thumb”), from Old English þūma (“thumb”), from Proto-West Germanic *þūmō (“thumb”), from Proto-Germanic *þūmô (“thumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *tūm- (“to grow”). Cognate with West Frisian tomme (“thumb”), Dutch duim (“thumb”), Low German Duum (“thumb”), German Daumen (“thumb”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk tomme (“inch”), Norn tum (“thumb”), Swedish tumme (“thumb”), tum (“inch”), Russian дюйм (djujm, “inch”), Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “burial mound”). Also compare Welsh tyfu (“to grow”), Latin tumēre (“to swell”), Lithuanian tumėti (“to thicken, clot”), Avestan 𐬀𐬨𐬏𐬙 (amūt, “strong”), Sanskrit तुम्र (túmra, “strong, thick”). The parasitic ‐b has existed since the late 13th century. Doublet of tomb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *tewh₂-, thombe, þūma, *þūmō, *þūmô, *tūm-
Usage
Inflected Forms
thumbs (plural)
thum (alternative, obsolete)
thume (alternative, obsolete)
thumbe (alternative, obsolete)
thumbs (present, singular)
thumbing (participle, present)
thumbed (participle, past)
thumbed (past)
the Thumb (canonical)