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Glite Dictionary
to fingerspell

to fingerspell

8.8
Use hand shapes to show each letter of a word in sign language
  • verb
  • /ˈfɪŋɡərˌspɛl/
translation icon : deletrear con los dedos
  • In sign language, he can fingerspell his name accurately and quickly.

Examples

  • Although fingerspelling a word does not itself denote an understanding of the concept, the fluency of the signing and fingerspelling can be an indicator of conceptual understanding (Padden, 2006).

    Academic text (2014)

  • The elimination of the pulleys makes RALPH more compact and able to fingerspell faster.

    Academic text (1994)

  • Fingerspelling hand

    Academic text (1994)

  • Instead of using the wonderful old Italian hand motion that came to mind, I laboriously signed in response, fingerspelling the words with no ASL equivalents.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Instead of receiving communication visually as deaf people do, the deaf-blind person's hand (or hands) remains in contact with the hand (or hands) of the person who is fingerspelling or signing.

    Academic text (1994)

  • During the lesson, the teacher asked the students to fingerspell common words using American Sign Language.

  • She practiced each letter carefully, trying to fingerspell the word 'hello' for her friend.

Synonyms

to spell out
vsto fingerspell
53 3.0

To say each letter of a word so others can hear the spelling

uses hand shapes in the manual alphabet instead of saying or writing letters
to finger-spell
vsto fingerspell
  • Specialized
1 8.7

Spell a word with your fingers using sign language

shows letters for one or more words rather than only a single word

Surface Forms

fingerspell infinitive
fingerspelled past
fingerspelled past participle
fingerspelling present participle
fingerspells third person singular

Morphology

fingerspell = finger + spell (transparent) = finger + spell

The meaning is directly built from 'finger' + 'spell' meaning to spell using the fingers (i.e., hand shapes), which is clear to learners.

Etymology

The word fingerspell combines finger and spell and simply means to 'spell' a word with your 'fingers'. So, to fingerspell is to show each letter with hand shapes, like in sign language, which is why people use it to give names or new words by hand.