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The Five Fingers in Hebrew

What do you call each of the fingers in Hebrew? The names actually date back around 1,700 years ago to the Talmud. The thumb is called Agudal (אֲגוּדָל), from gadol (גָּדוֹל), meaning big, since it is the biggest. The second finger is the Etzba (אֶצְבַּע), which is also the Hebrew word for simply "finger", coming from the verb “to point” Lehatzbia (לְהַצְבִּיעַ). The third finger, the longest, is the Ama (אַמָּה), which was an ancient unit of measurement for length.

The fourth finger is Kmitza (קְמִיצָה), from the verb likmotz (לקמוץ), meaning to grasp. This came from the time of the Temple when the priest used to grasp a handful of an offering. And lastly, the little finger is Zeret (זֶרֶת), which got its name from a small measure of length. This is just a taste of what you can get by learning Hebrew, but now it is in your hands! Start your Hebrew studies with us and bring Hebrew into your life.

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