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In my native language, there is no word for toes. You just use the same word for both toes and fingers. In this context, I would say a human has 20 fingers.

Recently I've heard someone saying a human has 10 fingers (without saying it out loud but assuming that the other 10 are toes and not fingers).

Can I use fingers when referring to toes? Would saying that a human has 20 fingers make sense, in English?

aMJay
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    A related term, phalanges, refers to the bones of the fingers or toes and could be useful depending on context. – aslum Mar 20 '19 at 13:34
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    In English it's even worse: humans have eight fingers and two thumbs :-) – Aaron F Mar 20 '19 at 13:37
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    Thumbs are fingers, but we rarely call them fingers, because the fact they oppose the other four fingers gives them special status that we call out by using the specific term "thumb". – Monty Harder Mar 20 '19 at 14:31
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    What's your native language? I'm intrigued! – T.J. Crowder Mar 20 '19 at 15:14
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    'Finger' sometimes refers to all five of the digits on the hand, and sometimes to the four non-thumb ones. – DJClayworth Mar 20 '19 at 16:05
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    @T.J.Crowder in Spanish a toe is literally called a "foot finger" (dedo del pie). No idea if OP is Spanish or not but it's a fun little quirk (I also don't know if this extends to other romance languages) – User1000547 Mar 20 '19 at 16:14
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    @MikeTheLiar - :-) Also Italian: dito del piede. French uses orteil but also doigt de pied. – T.J. Crowder Mar 20 '19 at 16:26
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    In Polish "finger" refers to both fingers and toes, but only really count finger-fingers. So, you have fingers on both hands and legs, but have only 10 fingers at the same time. That's funny! – el.pescado - нет войне Mar 20 '19 at 16:30
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    @T.J.Crowder - I don't know OP's native language, but I know that in most Slavic languages (e.g., Russian, Bulgarian), they use the same word for both fingers and toes. They also don't have a separate word for "hand" vs. "arm" or "foot" vs. "leg": the entire limb, from shoulder-to-fingertip (or hip to toe) is called one thing. My husband is originally Bulgarian and he's forever saying things in English like, "My foot hurts," when it's actually a pain in his leg. – Canadian Yankee Mar 20 '19 at 16:53
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    @T.J.Crowder it's Polish, we say palec or palce in plural form – aMJay Mar 20 '19 at 16:59
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    The same in latvian. Arm/hand is roka, foot/leg is kāja, fingers/toes are pirksti and thumb is never excluded from pirkstiem even though it has a name (īkšķis). – Džuris Mar 20 '19 at 19:28
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    @T.J.Crowder Incidentally, in Biblical Hebrew, there's also the same word for palm and sole :) – Luke Sawczak Mar 21 '19 at 00:51
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    In everyday speech or writing we would say "fingers and toes" (not "digits", which is more technical/precise). Remember, this site is ELL, not a reference dictionary. – smci Mar 21 '19 at 07:26
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    @el.pescado actually just like in English depending on the context you have 8 or 10 fingers, in Polish depending on the context you have 10 or 20 palców (thus fingers or fingers and toes). – Ister Mar 21 '19 at 13:34
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    For an opposite language quirk, in Spanish one uses different words for a human leg and an animal leg. – Martin Argerami Mar 22 '19 at 07:55
  • To be clear, this is not a single word request, right? (it's not tagged that). Because verbally everyone says "fingers and toes" not "digits". – smci Mar 22 '19 at 11:35

9 Answers9

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Nope. Fingers are only on the hand, except for figurative uses such as ladyfingers (a dessert). If you talk about the fingers on someone's foot, or a person with 20 fingers, unfortunately you'll just generate unsettling mental images. :)

As smci points out, to refer to the ensemble, people will often say "fingers and toes". This is a so-called "Siamese twin" phrase: the two words love to be paired and the order can't be reversed.

We do also have a single word that covers both fingers and toes: digits. It registers as a somewhat technical term, likely something your doctor would write in a report about an injury. I think most people would understand it in other contexts anyway, though some speakers might not realize that it can apply to toes, probably because of the influence of "finger". (Also, someone's "digits" is a way of referring to their phone number.)

A third alternative is "appendages", which everyone will understand, but which is usually too broad (see comments below) and simply sounds funny when used of regular human body parts.

Luke Sawczak
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    doesn't "appendage" apply to anything that protrudes from the body? Entire limbs, or even genitalia, flabs and warts? – Omar and Lorraine Mar 20 '19 at 12:00
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    @Wilson Not quite as broad as flabs and warts, but the rest yes. That's why I said it was more general -- meaning unsuitable general. I'll add that in. – Luke Sawczak Mar 20 '19 at 12:09
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    Just for fun, Ladies' fingers is also a name for a vegetable, otherwise known as Okra. – Ruadhan2300 Mar 20 '19 at 13:42
  • Some people also call them phalanges, though properly that's the bones of the fingers and toes - and there's more than one such bone to each digit. – SamBC Mar 20 '19 at 14:33
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    Then we get into the whole thumb/finger thing. @ aMJay - The innermost digit on each hand (the one with only two knuckles rather than three) is a "thumb" and it's never called a "finger" on its own -- but when you say "fingers," thumbs are included. So we have 10 fingers (2 of which are thumbs) and 10 toes (2 of which are "thumb toes" or "big toes"). – T.J. Crowder Mar 20 '19 at 15:14
  • I think most people understand digits. I don't think many doctors would have need of "digits" but would use fingers or toes, if affecting both perhaps "extremities" and as the bone structure has a generally parallel naming structure (suffix) for both hands and feet and in cases could use the bone name to mean both (ie: distals) but even then would likely clarify "distals in both hands and feet". – Quaternion Mar 20 '19 at 21:18
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    Correct, of course. But try telling Vibram https://us.vibram.com/shop/fivefingers/ – Digital Trauma Mar 21 '19 at 00:34
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    @Wilson I rarely hear "appendage" for digits (fingers, toes), to me it implies larger things like arms/legs. (of which there are generally only 4) –  Mar 21 '19 at 01:57
  • Nailed it Luke. – M.Mat Mar 21 '19 at 03:35
  • @Ruadhan2300 FWIW Lady Finger is a type of banana e.g. in Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Finger_banana – Simon F Mar 21 '19 at 09:30
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    @DigitalTrauma Indeed, Vibram is an Italian company, and Italian is one of the languages that have this fingers/toes mix-up. My guess is that the name of those shoes comes from a mis-translation. – Federico Poloni Mar 21 '19 at 11:06
  • "Some speakers might not realize that it can apply to toes": indeed, I doubt this possibility would occur to me unless the context made it clear. – phoog Mar 21 '19 at 17:19
  • Fingers on your feet would be really useful in null gravity. – RedSonja Mar 22 '19 at 09:49
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    I believe that for it to be called an appendage, you need to be able to move it independently, which usually is not the case with warts. – Max Williams Mar 22 '19 at 10:03
  • Ruadhan2300 - "Just for fun, Ladies' fingers" Cyndi Lauper? – Michael Harvey Mar 22 '19 at 11:27
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    This answer totally misses the point; this is ELL.SE, not Anatomy.SE. The colloquial phrase we all use since the age of two is "fingers and toes". Not "digits". – smci Mar 22 '19 at 11:29
  • If you use "digits", make sure the context is clear that it refers to their anatomy, and not their phone number. – dan04 Mar 23 '19 at 00:54
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Toes are not fingers. The general term for fingers and toes is digits. We have twenty digits: ten fingers and ten toes. In French, the toes are called 'doigts de pied' ('fingers of the foot'), also 'orteils'.

Doigt nom masculin
Chacune des parties libres et mobiles qui terminent la main de l'homme : Compter sur ses doigts.

Toe
Digit
Doigt (Larousse)

Michael Harvey
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    Even in Italian, we say the equivalent of what French uses. I would say that dita (in Italian) and doigts (in French) are equivalent to English digits, rather than fingers. It's just that we don't have a more specific word for hand digits even if in some contexts, dita alone could be taken as meaning fingers. – apaderno Mar 20 '19 at 12:26
  • Note that French does also oppose orteils to an unqualified doigts. – Luke Sawczak Mar 20 '19 at 13:16
  • Strictly speaking, in english we have ten toes, 8 fingers and two thumbs. but thumbs usually get counted as fingers in most situations. – Ruadhan2300 Mar 20 '19 at 13:45
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    @Ruadhan2300 Not true. The thumb is counted as a finger; you say "your thumbs and your other fingers", not "your thumbs and your fingers." And nobody would claim that the sentence "You have ten fingers" is false. – Luke Sawczak Mar 20 '19 at 14:36
  • Saying French calls toes fingers is the same as saying English calls butterflies flies. When asked how many fingers they have, French-speaking people wouldn't include their toes for example. – Aaron Mar 20 '19 at 15:56
  • The french have a word for toes, it's orteil. – Aubreal Mar 20 '19 at 21:24
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    Un orteil (du latin : articulus, « articulation »), appelé doigt de pied dans le langage courant, – Michael Harvey Mar 20 '19 at 21:26
  • @LukeSawczak A brief glance at dictionaries and medical text says otherwise. The Thumb is definitely not a finger, it has distinct anatomical features from fingers. It's often colloquially treated as one, but to call it one is technically incorrect. (the best kind of incorrect) That said, unless you run into someone particularly pedantic like me, it's totally okay to say "ten fingers" in almost every situation. – Ruadhan2300 Mar 21 '19 at 09:07
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    @Ruadhan2300 We're not talking about a medical context, though. Too many people on this site want to get technical about everything. That's not how language works. Thumbs are definitely fingers in almost any context. All English speakers are taught from a young age that we have ten fingers—that includes thumbs. It's ok to call them fingers, despite what medical texts say. 99.99% of people do not care about medical texts. – user91988 Mar 21 '19 at 14:17
  • @LukeSawczak "Fingers and thumbs" is a natural phrase. It depends on context and on how much your audience cares :) – Lightness Races in Orbit Mar 21 '19 at 14:36
  • @LukeSawczak We appear to be violently agreeing. – Ruadhan2300 Mar 21 '19 at 15:06
  • @only_pro indeed, merriam webster online defines finger as "any of the five terminating members of the hand : a digit of the forelimb; especially : one other than the thumb." This clearly indicates that only in some contexts is the thumb excluded from the definition of finger. And ELL is hardly the place to be insisting on the use of domain-specific terminology in a general context (which is out of place anywhere, really). – phoog Mar 21 '19 at 17:24
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    @kiamlaluno, Re "doigts (in French) are equivalent to English digits", No, it's equivalent to fingers. Nous avons seulement 10 doigts. Similarly, "digital" refers to fingers in French. For example, "empreintes digitales" refers to "fingerprints". – ikegami Mar 22 '19 at 21:40
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No, the correct term to use in your case would be digits. This means both fingers and toes.

apaderno
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MikeB
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Heh. There is one particular case where you could do it, but it's pretty bizarre.

If a person loses his thumb, this will have major effects on the function of the hand as a whole. Thumbs are important.

In such cases, the preferred treatment is to transplant the big toe of the appropriate foot to substitute for the missing thumb. Big toes are not nearly as important to proper functioning of a foot.

With time, the pad of the transplanted toe will shrink, and with use and therapy the toe joint will become more flexible. The result is not a perfect replacement, but it's much better than the alternative.

In this case, you could talk about having 10 fingers when one of them is (or at least started out as) a toe. You could even have two, if you're unfortunate.

Other than that, the other answers are spot on: English makes a clear distinction between fingers and toes.

WhatRoughBeast
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Can I use fingers when referring to toes? Would saying that a human has 20 fingers make sense, in English?

No. I don't believe there is any context in which this would be correct - not even some of the unusual ones suggested by other people.

I agree that 20 digits is correct.

We could say, "The typical human has ten fingers and toes."

chasly - supports Monica
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    Does "ten fingers and toes" mean "ten fingers and ten toes" or should it be "twenty fingers and toes"? – jf328 Mar 21 '19 at 14:31
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    @jf328 The sentence is ambiguous. It could mean "ten fingers and ten toes" or "ten fingers and toes in total". Common sense tells us which one is meant. – CJ Dennis Mar 22 '19 at 02:24
  • @CJDennis, unfortunately this type of ambiguity tends to appear in my English exams and usually the teachers have the final call – jf328 Mar 22 '19 at 08:11
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You could refer to toes as fingers as a metaphor if you were describing someone with uncommon dexterity in their toes.

  • The crowd was amazed when the escape artist kicked off his shoes and his newly exposed fingers untied the knot.

If you mean the toes themselves, then describing them as fingers would be wrong, and confusing.

cmm
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    I don't think that metaphor could stand on its own - you'd need more context to make it very clear that you're not literally describing fingers on a foot. Taken on its own, I'd read that sentence as describing a morphologically unique individual, not someone with especially dexterous toes. – Nuclear Hoagie Mar 20 '19 at 18:10
  • Fair comment. I used the phrase 'escape artist' I had set up that context, but it was not clear enough. – cmm Mar 20 '19 at 18:15
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    This just gives me a rather unsettling mental image of someone with actual fingers where their toes should be. I don't think any context would help, no matter how explicit. – chasly - supports Monica Mar 20 '19 at 18:38
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    When I was 19 I dated a girl who revealed she had a horror of human feet. Any feet, not just mine. She said "They look like horribly deformed hands". – Michael Harvey Mar 21 '19 at 17:37
  • @MichaelHarvey Hilarious! I wonder how she knew that hands aren't horribly (beautifully?) deformed feet... – Luke Sawczak Mar 22 '19 at 11:25
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I have only used the word 'fingers' to refer to 'toes' when looking at some pre-Renaissance and Renaissance paintings where barefoot figures looked like they had fingers for toes.

Xenson
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No

  1. "fingers and toes" is what we would say in everyday speech or writing (not "digits", which is more technical/precise).

    • (Yes, to be pedantic, "finger" is here referring to both fingers and thumbs)

  2. "digits" is the more technical/precise term, but you'd almost never hear that spoken, except when discussing anatomy.

smci
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  • I do like that phrasing. Given where the votes are at this point, would you rather I add it to my answer and credit you or leave it as it is? – Luke Sawczak Mar 22 '19 at 11:26
  • @LukeSawczak: feel free to add it and credit me, but my comment was your answer totally misses the point; this is ELL.SE, not Anatomy.SE. The colloquial phrase we all use since the age of two is "fingers and toes". Not "digits". – smci Mar 22 '19 at 11:29
  • My answer can hardly miss the point, given that the question was "Can 'fingers' be used for toes?" and the answer is no :) I then offered two alternatives, with caveats — one of which is precisely the one you mention, that "digits" is workable but more suited to doctors than everyday language. A key part of learning a language is learning the register of the different terms you encounter, including whether they're technical jargon or everyday language. Adding a third alternative that I agree is in wider use just strengthens the answer, not undermines it... Thanks for suggesting it! – Luke Sawczak Mar 23 '19 at 00:58
  • @LukeSawczak: well ok, there is unanimity that the answer to the literal question asked is "No", but to the implied question is "Well then what are they called?", which is not a single-word request: Noone says "Wiggle your phalanges" either... (and yes, phalanges are only the third and last bone, not the entire finger/toe). My point here is to discourage English language-learners from uttering or writing "digits" (or "appendages") rather than "fingers and toes". Btw, "appendage" can refer to penis too, searches for "his appendage" show that, and some FSM references. – smci Mar 23 '19 at 01:10
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    Fair enough, though I'd say we can give credit to the learner to read the caveats and use (or at least understand!) terms in the circumstances they work in. I guess readiness to do that depends on the level, too. "Phalanges" is much further in the deep end of anatomical jargon than "digits", so I draw a similar line on that one and wouldn't include it in my answer. Admittedly "appendages" is also pretty unlikely outside of a humorous use ("fleshly appendages") — so I've tried to strengthen the wording in my last edit. – Luke Sawczak Mar 23 '19 at 01:16
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Humans have 10 fingers and 10 toes. It would not be correct to say that we have 20 fingers or 20 toes. Fingers are only on our hands, and toes are only on our feet. However, a general word "digits" can be used to say that we have 20 digits altogether.

magnetar
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