Thumb meaning in English

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Definition

a thumb: the shortest finger on a hand, the finger separated from the others noun

Examples

  • "Glen : Everyone please close your eyes, touch your thumb gently to your index finger, and chant with me... Ommmmmm. Brian, why don't you lead us off?"
Exercise 1
Jean doesn't have "the green thumb". This means that .

Literally, a thumb is .
Jean doesn't have "the green thumb". This means that he is not good with plants 1.

Literally, a thumb is one of the fingers on the hand 2.
1 he is not good with plants: This is the correct choice here. In America we say "I have a green thumb" to mean "I am good at gardening". Jean originally says "I really don't have the green hand", which is a literal translation from his native French, and NOT what we say in English! You might like to know that in the UK, we say "I have green fingers" if we are a good gardener!
1 he has caught a disease from his plant: This isn't the right answer. This idiom is unrelated to diseases or illnesses!
1 he doesn't have the right type of plant: This isn't the right answer. This idiom is unrelated to varieties of plants.
2 one of the fingers on the hand: This is the correct answer. Most people have two thumbs. Thumbs are like fingers, but shorter and fatter. They're very useful, especially when climbing trees or typing text messages! Many non-native speakers have difficulty pronouncing the term "thumb". It rhymes with "rum" and "come", and we do not pronounce the "b".
2 a type of plant: This is incorrect: a "thumb" is a part of the human body, not a type of plant.
2 a talent or skill: This is incorrect: a "talent" or "skill" is an ability which we have. This does not share a similar meaning with "thumb".

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