Meanings
plural fingernails · alternative finger nail · alternative finger-nail
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe hard, flat translucent covering near the tip of a human finger, useful for scratching and fine manipulation.
Origin
- Middle Englishfinger neil(e)
- Englishfingernail
From Middle English finger neil(e); equivalent to finger + nail. Compare Middle English nayl of fynger (“fingernail”) and Old English handnæġl (“fingernail”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Fingernail (“fingernail”), West Frisian fingerneil (“fingernail”), Dutch vingernagel (“fingernail”), German Fingernagel (“fingernail”), Danish fingernegl (“fingernail”), Swedish fingernagel (“fingernail”), Norwegian fingernegl (“fingernail”), Icelandic fingurnögl (“fingernail”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans nael, vingernael
- naelcovering near the tip of finger
- vingernaelcovering near the tip of finger
Ancient Greek ὄνυξ
- ὄνυξ (ónux)covering near the tip of finger
Arabic ظُفْر
- ظُفْر (ẓufr)covering near the tip of finger
Bengali নখ
- নখ (nokh)covering near the tip of finger
Bulgarian но́кът
- но́кът (nókăt)covering near the tip of finger
Catalan ungla
- unglacovering near the tip of finger
Chinese Cantonese 指甲, 手指甲
- 指甲 (zi² gaap³)covering near the tip of finger
- 手指甲 (sau² zi² gaap³)covering near the tip of finger
Chinese Mandarin 指甲, 手指甲
- 指甲 (zhǐjia)covering near the tip of finger
- 手指甲 (shǒuzhǐjia)covering near the tip of finger
Czech nehet
- nehetcovering near the tip of finger
Danish negl, fingernegl
- neglcovering near the tip of finger
- fingerneglcovering near the tip of finger
Dutch vingernagel, nagel
- vingernagelcovering near the tip of finger
- nagelcovering near the tip of finger
Estonian küüs
- küüscovering near the tip of finger
Finnish sormen kynsi, sormenkynsi
- sormen kynsicovering near the tip of finger
- sormenkynsicovering near the tip of finger
French ongle, ongle de main
- onglecovering near the tip of finger
- ongle de maincovering near the tip of finger
German Fingernagel
- Fingernagelcovering near the tip of finger
Greek νύχι
- νύχι (nýchi)covering near the tip of finger
Hawaiian maiʻao
- maiʻaocovering near the tip of finger
Hebrew ציפורן \ צִפֹּרֶן
- ציפורן \ צִפֹּרֶן (tsipóren)covering near the tip of finger
Hindi नाख़ुन
- नाख़ुन (nāxun)covering near the tip of finger
Hungarian köröm
- körömcovering near the tip of finger
Icelandic nögl, fingurnögl
- nöglcovering near the tip of finger
- fingurnöglcovering near the tip of finger
Indonesian kuku
- kukucovering near the tip of finger
Irish ionga méire
- ionga méirecovering near the tip of finger
Italian unghia
- unghiacovering near the tip of finger
Japanese 爪, ツメ
- 爪 (tsume)covering near the tip of finger
- ツメ (tsume)covering near the tip of finger
Korean 손톱
- 손톱 (sontop)covering near the tip of finger
Latin unguis
- unguiscovering near the tip of finger
Latvian nags
- nagscovering near the tip of finger
Lithuanian nagas
- nagascovering near the tip of finger
Malay kuku
- kukucovering near the tip of finger
Māori kuku, maikuku
- kukucovering near the tip of finger
- maikukucovering near the tip of finger
Norwegian Bokmål fingernegl
- fingerneglcovering near the tip of finger
Polish paznokieć
- paznokiećcovering near the tip of finger
Portuguese unha
- unhacovering near the tip of finger
Punjabi ਨਹੁੰ, ਨਾਖ਼ੁਨ
- ਨਹੁੰ (nahũ)covering near the tip of finger
- ਨਾਖ਼ੁਨ (nāxun)covering near the tip of finger
- نَون٘ہہ (nauṉh)covering near the tip of finger
- ناخُن (nāxun)covering near the tip of finger
Romanian unghie
- unghiecovering near the tip of finger
Russian но́готь, но́гти
- но́готь (nógotʹ)covering near the tip of finger
- но́гти (nógti)covering near the tip of finger
Slovak necht
- nechtcovering near the tip of finger
Spanish uña, uña de dedo
- uñacovering near the tip of finger
- uña de dedocovering near the tip of finger
- uña de manocovering near the tip of finger
- uña dactilarcovering near the tip of finger
- quirouñacovering near the tip of finger
Swahili kucha
- kuchacovering near the tip of finger
Swedish fingernagel, nagel
- fingernagelcovering near the tip of finger
- nagelcovering near the tip of finger
Tagalog kuko
- kukocovering near the tip of finger
Tamil விரல் நகம், நகம்
- விரல் நகம் (viral nakam)covering near the tip of finger
- நகம் (nakam)covering near the tip of finger
Thai เล็บมือ
- เล็บมือ (lép-mʉʉ)covering near the tip of finger
Turkish tırnak
- tırnakcovering near the tip of finger
Ukrainian ні́готь
- ні́готь (níhotʹ)covering near the tip of finger
Urdu ناخُن
- ناخُن (nāxun)covering near the tip of finger
Vietnamese móng, móng tay
- móngcovering near the tip of finger
- móng taycovering near the tip of finger
Welsh ewin (y llaw)
- ewin (y llaw)covering near the tip of finger
Yiddish נאָגל
- נאָגל (nogl)covering near the tip of finger
Zulu uzipho class 11/10
- uzipho class 11/10covering near the tip of finger
Cite this entry
fingernail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fingernail
“fingernail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fingernail. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fingernail,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fingernail.
Source: fingernail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.