Skip to main content
finger food

finger food

7 1.8
Food that you eat with your fingers
  • noun
  • /ˈfɪŋɡər fuːd/
translation icon : comida para comer con las manos
  • I was the last to come down, of course; everybody else was already gathered around the three flowery-print sofas, munching on finger foods as they chatted up a storm.
  • eat finger food
  • finger food—tapas
  • fun finger foods

How did you get your children to eat finger foods and grown up foods?

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Over lunches of finger foods, we sat laughing together.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Not to mention, they got three live bands... ...they got oysters, snacks, phenomenal finger food.

  • For parties, any finger food is a wise choice.

    Blog text (6)
  • Can I interest anyone in some finger foods?

  • I do have to say the buns kept this as finger food, which is good for a party.

    Blog text (22)
  • The dough for these finger foods is almost like a soft pretzel dough.

    Blog text (10)
  • We got shrimp puffs and cheese snacks... -just some finger foods.

  • Although we had just eaten breakfast on the plane three hours earlier, it was now 8:30 PM and we were at an alcohol-free cocktail party with incredibly delicious finger foods.

    Blog text (33)
  • These finger foods have an array of toppings placed on crunchy bread, spiked with a toothpick and displayed buffet style.

    Blog text (24)
  • For the party, we prepared a selection of tasty finger foods that everyone could enjoy without utensils.

How Filling

meat pie
5 1.0
burger
406 1.0
sandwich
800 1.0
finger food
7 1.8

Surface Forms

finger food singular
finger foods plural

Morphology

finger + food

The meaning 'food eaten with the fingers' is directly derived from combining 'finger' and 'food'—a straightforward noun+noun composition that specifies manner of eating. This literal, compositional pattern is common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Finger food comes from the simple picture of small finger food you can pick up and eat with your hands. So today it means snacks made 'to be eaten with the fingers', often served at parties.