Thumbs are fingers, too
October 14, 2017
I remember the day in second grade when one of my classmates held up her hand in front of me and asked me how many fingers she had on her hand. I said five, because ever since I could count, I knew I had five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot.
“No! You’re wrong,” she said at me, “The thumb isn’t a finger.” I didn’t believe her. Many more of my friends asked me the same question multiple times in elementary school. Each time, I insisted that the thumb is a finger, and I still stand by that today.
The difference between your thumb and the other fingers on your hand is the number of joints and phalanges, or bones. The thumb only has one joint and two phalanges, as opposed to the two joints and three phalanges your other fingers have in common. But that doesn’t mean the thumb isn’t a finger. Think of your big toe. Your big toe has the same joint and bone structure as your thumb, unlike your other toes that have two joints and three phalanges. However, your big toe still has the word toe after big, so people obviously consider your big toe a toe. So it doesn’t make sense for your thumb to not be considered a finger, just because the joint and bone structure is different.
Some would say that the thumb isn’t a finger because it’s opposable, unlike your other fingers. Think back to the big toe scenario. Chimpanzees, apes and other primates have an opposable big toe. And their big toe is still a toe, so why isn’t a thumb a finger?
Just because your thumb may look a little different than your other fingers doesn’t mean it’s not a finger. It has fingernails and fingerprints just like all of your other fingers. You have ten fingers and ten toes and that is that.
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Pluto is a planet • May 17, 2021 at 7:40 pm
I really understand you. People acting as thumbs aren’t fingers is something I haven’t noticed before the very late 20th century, and all definitions of finger that were created before then included the thumb as a finger. For example, the 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines finger as “One of the extreme parts of the hand, a small member shooting to a point. The fingers have joints which peculiarly fit them to be the instruments of catching, seizing and holding. When we speak of the fingers generally, we include the thumb; as the five fingers. But we often make a distinction. The fingers and thumb consist of fifteen bones; three to each. The word is applied to some other animals as well as to man.”
I think that the reason some definitions say the thumb isn’t a finger is to help make a distinction of the thumb from other fingers in anatomy, but I still think it’s unjust to thumbs that they are so discriminated against just because they are built different.
Bah • Jul 13, 2018 at 11:37 am
Your ignorance is bliss, despite actual facts. Thumbs are not fingers, they are digits.
abracadabra • Oct 16, 2017 at 5:09 pm
The opposable thumbs in apes is too short.
abracadabra • Oct 16, 2017 at 5:07 pm
The thumb is not considered a finger because it is opposable to the rest.
Carlo • Oct 16, 2017 at 7:37 am
I give this article 10 fingers out of ten. Greatest article I’ve read on this website