Meanings
- rareA spelling error in signing.
1 more example
We remember an instance of a little girl who had picked up the phrase “good-night” from the elder pupils, spelling each letter on her fingers, using it as they did, when bidding adieu to the teacher who conducted evening prayers; but she showed her misapprehension of its exact meaning, by saying “good-night” to her teacher after morning school. It was no mere lapsus digitorum, for having not yet been taught the names of the divisions of time, she had confounded the particular term “good-night,” with the general one “good-bye.”
1864, The Reverend Samuel Smith, The Deaf and Dumb: Their Deprivation and Its Consequences; The Process of Their Education, With other Interesting Particulars, page 23
Origin
- Latinlāpsus“a slipping or falling”
- Englishlapsus digitorum
Coined as an analogue of lapsus linguae for users of sign language from the Latin lāpsus (“a slipping or falling”) (lāpsūs in the plural) + digitōrum (“of fingers”), genitive plural form of digitus (“finger”) = “a slipping of fingers”; compare lapsus digiti.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
lapsus digitorum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lapsus%20digitorum
“lapsus digitorum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lapsus%20digitorum. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lapsus digitorum,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lapsus%20digitorum.
Source: lapsus digitorum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.