Why do Americans call the little finger on each hand the pinky?
It's one of those terms I've heard used for years and it's only just struck me that I've no idea from whence the name comes.
OT Pinky?
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Wanderer
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http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pinkie
The Free Dictionary says:
The Free Dictionary says:
[Probably from Dutch pinkje, diminutive of pink, little finger.]
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... or Brain.GaryKelly wrote:Aye. You'd think they'd call one of 'em Perky.
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lesl
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pinky an important word.
I wondered too. Here's what I found, cheers, Lesl
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pin1.htm
From Paul Mills, London: “I would like to know the origin of pinkie, and when it was initially used in the US. I came across the term yesterday in speaking to an American. Is it a slang term? She stated that it is a term used to refer to the little finger.”
[A] Its sense of the little finger is actually quite old. Curiously, though it is now often thought of as an American term, it began its life in Scotland—the first recorded example, from 1808, is in John Jamieson’s An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language.
You might think that it is called pinkie because European little fingers are usually coloured pink, but this isn’t so (though its modern survival might owe something to this idea). It derives from a much older sense of pinkie for something tiny, which in turn comes from one meaning of the adjective pink. This adjective came into Scots from Dutch. It appeared first as part of the phrase pink eye for a half-shut or peering eye (from old Dutch pinck ooghen, which may well be the source of the modern Dutch verb pinkogen, to half close the eyes or squint).
In modern Dutch pink means the little finger, so it might look as though the American pinkie comes directly from it. The evidence, though, is that Scots played a key intermediate role.
The sense of the colour, by the way, came from the flower called the pink, whose name probably derives from pink eye, perhaps because of the folded petals that made the flower look a bit like a half-closed eye, or possibly from a completely separate sense of pink that referred to making holes or scalloped edges in cloth (as in pinking shears), because of the crinkled edges of the petals.
[My thanks to Harry Lake for sorting out the Dutch word senses.]
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pin1.htm
From Paul Mills, London: “I would like to know the origin of pinkie, and when it was initially used in the US. I came across the term yesterday in speaking to an American. Is it a slang term? She stated that it is a term used to refer to the little finger.”
[A] Its sense of the little finger is actually quite old. Curiously, though it is now often thought of as an American term, it began its life in Scotland—the first recorded example, from 1808, is in John Jamieson’s An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language.
You might think that it is called pinkie because European little fingers are usually coloured pink, but this isn’t so (though its modern survival might owe something to this idea). It derives from a much older sense of pinkie for something tiny, which in turn comes from one meaning of the adjective pink. This adjective came into Scots from Dutch. It appeared first as part of the phrase pink eye for a half-shut or peering eye (from old Dutch pinck ooghen, which may well be the source of the modern Dutch verb pinkogen, to half close the eyes or squint).
In modern Dutch pink means the little finger, so it might look as though the American pinkie comes directly from it. The evidence, though, is that Scots played a key intermediate role.
The sense of the colour, by the way, came from the flower called the pink, whose name probably derives from pink eye, perhaps because of the folded petals that made the flower look a bit like a half-closed eye, or possibly from a completely separate sense of pink that referred to making holes or scalloped edges in cloth (as in pinking shears), because of the crinkled edges of the petals.
[My thanks to Harry Lake for sorting out the Dutch word senses.]
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CHIFF FIPPLE
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Not too suprising as Scotland used to have lots of contact and trading with the DutchIts sense of the little finger is actually quite old. Curiously, though it is now often thought of as an American term, it began its life in Scotland—the first recorded example, from 1808, is in John Jamieson’s An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language.
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TomB
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Re: pinky an important word.
Pink Eye now meaning a medical condition, at least here in the U.S.lesl wrote:It derives from a much older sense of pinkie for something tiny, which in turn comes from one meaning of the adjective pink. This adjective came into Scots from Dutch. It appeared first as part of the phrase pink eye for a half-shut or peering eye (from old Dutch pinck ooghen, which may well be the source of the modern Dutch verb pinkogen, to half close the eyes or squint).
Tom
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pearl grey
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Re: pinky an important word.
I would have thought the medical condition was surely named such BECAUSE of the pink color. After all, it's not like you see or comment on someone with pink eye every day, not enough to make it a common phrase to name a color after.TomB wrote:Pink Eye now meaning a medical condition, at least here in the U.S.lesl wrote:It derives from a much older sense of pinkie for something tiny, which in turn comes from one meaning of the adjective pink. This adjective came into Scots from Dutch. It appeared first as part of the phrase pink eye for a half-shut or peering eye (from old Dutch pinck ooghen, which may well be the source of the modern Dutch verb pinkogen, to half close the eyes or squint).
Tom
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Cayden
Re: pinky an important word.
While a dictionary will give you that meaning I have yet to encounter a Dutch person to use that word. "Knipogen' for winking is common though. To call 'pinkogen' modern Dutch is a bit off the mark.lesl wrote: (from old Dutch pinck ooghen, which may well be the source of the modern Dutch verb pinkogen, to half close the eyes or squint).
[My thanks to Harry Lake for sorting out the Dutch word senses.]
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lesl
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could I just remind everyone, I did not actually write all those things that
are being quoted as me. I found them on this website
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pin1.htm
My contribution, well I think if in modern Dutch pink means the little finger,
it became American from the Dutch because Manhattan NY was
a Dutch colony - New Amsterdam (which I think was bought by Peter
Stuyvesant for about 24 dollars.)
I grew up there in a place called Stuyvesant Town and we all had 4 pinkies,
one for each hand and one for each foot.
Not sure if pinkies are in the rest of the US or not.
Knipogen, Lesl
are being quoted as me. I found them on this website
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pin1.htm
My contribution, well I think if in modern Dutch pink means the little finger,
it became American from the Dutch because Manhattan NY was
a Dutch colony - New Amsterdam (which I think was bought by Peter
Stuyvesant for about 24 dollars.)
I grew up there in a place called Stuyvesant Town and we all had 4 pinkies,
one for each hand and one for each foot.
Not sure if pinkies are in the rest of the US or not.
Knipogen, Lesl
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Joseph E. Smith
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