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Fingers of the human left hand

A finger is a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates. Normally humans have five digits on each hand (exceptions are polydactyly, hypodactyly and digit loss). The first digit is the thumb, followed by index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger or pinky. Some other languages use the same generic term for all five digits of a hand. Look up finger, fingering in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File links LeftHand. ... Digit may refer to: A finger or a toe Numerical digit, as used in mathematics or computer science Digit (unit), an ancient meterological unit Digit (magazine), an Indian information technology magazine This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... For other uses, see Hand (disambiguation). ... This article is about modern humans. ... Families 15, See classification A primate is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. ... This article is about the human congenital disorder (disease). ... // In biology, dactyly is the arrangement of digits (fingers and toes) on the hands, feet, or sometimes wings of a tetrapod animal. ... For other uses, see Thumb (disambiguation). ... The second digit of a human hand is also referred to as the index finger, pointer finger, forefinger, trigger finger, digitus secundus, or digitus II. It is located between the first and third digits - that is, between the thumb and the middle finger. ... This article is about the vulgar gesture. ... The ring finger is the fourth digit of the human hand, and the second most ulnar finger, located between the middle finger and the little finger. ... The little finger, often called the pinky in American English and pinkie in Scottish English (from the Dutch word pink, meaning little finger), is the most ulnar and usually smallest finger of the human hand, opposite the thumb, next to the ring finger. ...

Linguistically, it appears that the original sense was to include the thumb as a finger: penkwe-ros (also rendered as penqrós) was, in the inferred Proto-Indo-European language, a suffixed form of penkwe (or penqe), "five", which has given rise to many Indo-European-family words (tens of them defined in English dictionaries) that involve or flow from concepts of fiveness. The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. ... For other uses, see Indo-European. ...

Chimpanzees have lower limbs that are specialized for manipulation, and (arguably) have fingers on their lower limbs as well. The term 'finger' is not applied to the digits of most other animals, such as canines, felines, or ungulates, none of which can engage in fine manipulation with their forelimbs as a human can. Type species Simia troglodytes Blumenbach, 1775 distribution of Species Pan troglodytes Pan paniscus Chimpanzee, often shortened to chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of apes in the genus Pan. ... Genera Alopex Atelocynus Canis Cerdocyon Chrysocyon Cuon Cynotherium † Dusicyon † Dasycyon † Fennecus (Part of Vulpes) Lycalopex (Part of Pseudalopex) Lycaon Nyctereutes Otocyon Pseudalopex Speothos Urocyon Vulpes The Canidae (′kanə′dē, IPA: ) family is a part of the order Carnivora within the mammals (Class Mammalia). ... Feline can refer to: Felidae - the cat family, which includes lions, tigers and panthers. ... Ungulates (meaning roughly hoofed or hoofed animal) make up several orders of mammals, of which six survive: Artiodactyla: even-toed ungulates, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, antelope, and many others Cetacea: whales and dolphins (which evolved from hoofed land animals) Perissodactyla: odd-toed ungulates such as horses and rhinos Proboscidea: elephants...

Function

Close-up of the left forefinger's distal phalanx

Further information: Hand#Muscles and tendons

Each finger may flex and extend, abduct and adduct, and so also circumduct. Flexion is by far the strongest movement. In humans, there are two large muscles that produce flexion of each finger, and additional muscles that augment the movement. Each finger may move independently of the others, though the muscle bulks that move each finger may be partly blended, and the tendons may be attached to each other by a net of fibrous tissue, preventing completely free movement. This is particularly noticeable when trying to extend the fourth digit (third finger) with the others flexed. For other uses, see Hand (disambiguation). ... In anatomy, Flexion is movement whereby bones or other objects are brought closer together. ... The leg extension is an isolation exercise. ... Abduction, in functional anatomy, is a movement which draws a limb away from the median plane of the body. ... In anatomy and physiology, adduction is the moving of limbs towards the midline of the body. ...

Fingers are usually moved under sub-conscious control. In humans, they are used for grasping, typing, grooming, writing, caressing, and many other activities. They are also used in signaling, as when wearing a wedding ring, finger counting or when communicating in sign language. Type has historically had the following uses: In biology, a type is the specimen or specimens upon which an original species description is based. ... See also: A groom is a type of officer-servant in the British royal household. ... Writing is the process of inscribing characters on a medium, with the intention of forming words and other larger language constructs. ... Caress redirects here. ... A wedding ring or wedding band consists of a precious metal ring. ... Finger counting, or dactylonomy, is the art of counting along ones fingers. ... Two sign language Intepreters working as a team for a school. ...

Aside from the genitals, the fingertips possess the highest concentration of touch receptors and thermoreceptors among all areas of the human skin, making them extremely sensitive to heat (and cold), pressure, vibration, texture, and moisture. Thus fingers are commonly used as sensory probes to ascertain properties of objects encountered in the world, and so they are prone to injury. A sex organ, or primary sexual characteristic, as narrowly defined, is any of the anatomical parts of the body which are involved in sexual reproduction and constitute the reproductive system in a complex organism; in mammals, these are: Female: Bartholins glands, cervix, clitoris, Fallopian tubes, labia, ovaries, Skenes... Touch redirects here. ... A thermoreceptor is a sensory receptor that responds to temperature, primarily within the innocuous range. ... Injury is damage or harm caused to the structure or function of the body caused by an outside agent or force, which may be physical or chemical. ...

Fingers do not contain muscles other than arrector pili muscles. The muscles that move the finger joints are in the palm and forearm. The long tendons that deliver motion from the forearm muscles may be observed to move under the skin at the wrist and on the back of the hand. A hair follicle, showing its Arrector pili muscle attached on the right. ... For other uses of Muscle, see Muscle (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Hand (disambiguation). ... // The Human Forearm The forearm is the structure on the upper limb, between the elbow and the wrist. ...

Fingers

Each of the fingers has unique cultural and functional significance. From the thumb on the radial side to the ulnar side of the hand, the fingers are in this order: The radius is the bone of the forearm that extends from the outside of your limb to your phlangx (lateral) of the elbow to the thumb side of the wrist. ... The ulna (Elbow Bone) [Figs. ...

thumb index finger, also called 'pointer finger', or 'forefinger' middle finger, the longest ring finger, also known as fourth finger little finger, also known as 'pinky'

For other uses, see Thumb (disambiguation). ... The second digit of a human hand is also referred to as the index finger, pointer finger, forefinger, trigger finger, digitus secundus, or digitus II. It is located between the first and third digits - that is, between the thumb and the middle finger. ... This article is about the vulgar gesture. ... The ring finger is the fourth digit of the human hand, and the second most ulnar finger, located between the middle finger and the little finger. ... The little finger, often called the pinky in American English and pinkie in Scottish English (from the Dutch word pink, meaning little finger), is the most ulnar and usually smallest finger of the human hand, opposite the thumb, next to the ring finger. ...

Finger ratio

One of the major finger issues in modern science is John T. Manning's digit ratio, sometimes described as finger ratio - which concerns the ratio of the 2th finger (index finger) and the 4th finger (ring finger).^[1] In 2008 John Manning presented an update on his finger ratio research, titled: 'The finger book'. The digit ratio is the ratio of the lengths of different digits, fingers or toes, typically as measured from the bottom crease where the finger joins the hand to the tip of the finger. ... John Lawrence Manning (January 29, 1816 – October 24, 1889) was an antebellum Democratic Governor of South Carolina from 1852 to 1854. ...

Notes

See also

This article is about the body part. ... For other uses, see Hand (disambiguation). ... The knuckles are the joints of the fingers, which are brought into prominence when the hand is shut. ... The digit ratio is the ratio of the lengths of different digits, fingers or toes, typically as measured from the bottom crease where the finger joins the hand to the tip of the finger. ... Home row is a term that refers to certain keys of the center row of alphabetical letters on a typewriter or computer keyboard. ... For other uses, see Nail. ...

External links

• Finger Length Predicts Aggression in Men
• Finger Length Predicts SAT Performance

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Finger

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