Meaning & use
finger food
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
Small pieces of food that you can pick up and eat with your fingers, not with a fork or spoon.
Grammar: No plural and no article when talking about the type of food in general: we served finger food, not 'a finger food'.
Patterns
- serve finger food
- finger food for a party
- a plate of finger food
The hosts served finger food, so guests could eat while standing and chatting.
We ordered plenty of finger food for the children's party.
At the reception there was wine and light finger food on every table.
Common combinations
- serve finger food
- They served finger food at the gallery opening.
- light finger food
- The invitation promised drinks and light finger food.
- finger food buffet
- A finger food buffet is easier than a sit-down meal.
- pass around finger food
- Waiters passed around finger food during the speeches.
Synonyms and how they differ
- appetizer
- An appetizer is a small first course eaten before the main meal, often with cutlery, while finger food is defined by being eaten by hand.
- snack
- A snack is any small amount of food between meals and can be eaten any way, so it is broader than finger food.
- canapé
- A canapé is a specific fancy finger food on a small piece of bread or pastry, so it is narrower and more formal.
Word family
Commonly confused: finger food or fast food?
finger food vs fast food
Fast food is cheap food sold quickly in restaurants; finger food is about how you eat it, not where it comes from.
Practice
Which sentence uses "finger food" correctly?
Choose one answer.
"Finger food" is uncountable and means food eaten by hand, so "a plate of finger food" fits. Option 1 wrongly uses the plural here and contradicts the meaning with "needed a fork"; option 2 treats it as a countable single item; option 4 uses it as a verb, which it is not.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “finger food”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.