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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

thumbnail.

The fingernail on the thumb.

9 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈθʌm.neɪl/
  1. The fingernail on the thumb.

  2. A rough sketch (e.g., the size of one's thumbnail).

  3. A small picture, used as a compact representation of a larger image.

  4. A small picture representing a post or a video in a list.

Where this word comes from

From thumb + nail. Compare West Frisian tommeneil (“thumbnail”), Dutch duimnagel (“thumbnail”), German Daumennagel (“thumbnail”). The phrase thumbnail sketch was first attested 1852. Verb sense attested 1930s.

verb/ˈθʌm.neɪl/
  1. To describe concisely.

    transitive
  2. To create a smaller representation of (a larger image).

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From thumb + nail. Compare West Frisian tommeneil (“thumbnail”), Dutch duimnagel (“thumbnail”), German Daumennagel (“thumbnail”). The phrase thumbnail sketch was first attested 1852. Verb sense attested 1930s.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.