Meaning & use
fingerspelling
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
A way of spelling words by making a separate hand shape for each letter, used within sign language.
Grammar: Uncountable: practice fingerspelling. Also written finger spelling or finger-spelling.
Patterns
- use fingerspelling
- learn fingerspelling
She used fingerspelling for the name of the village because it had no sign.
Learning fingerspelling is usually the first step in studying sign language.
His fingerspelling is so fast that beginners cannot follow it.
noununcountable
The skill or practice of using hand-shaped letters to communicate, sometimes with people who are deaf or deafblind.
Grammar: Often described by speed or clarity: clear fingerspelling.
Patterns
- fingerspelling into someone's hand
The interpreter relied on fingerspelling to convey the new technical terms.
Children enjoy fingerspelling games to practice the alphabet.
Tactile fingerspelling lets deafblind people receive words through touch.
Common combinations
- learn fingerspelling
- We learn fingerspelling in the second week of the course.
- fingerspelling alphabet
- The poster showed the fingerspelling alphabet.
- fast fingerspelling
- Fast fingerspelling takes years of practice to read.
- use fingerspelling for names
- Signers often use fingerspelling for names of people and places.
- tactile fingerspelling
- She communicates through tactile fingerspelling.
Synonyms and how they differ
- manual alphabet
- Manual alphabet names the set of hand shapes, while fingerspelling names the act of using them.
- sign language
- Sign language is the whole language with its own grammar, whereas fingerspelling is only the letter-by-letter part of it.
- signing
- Signing covers all gestures used to communicate, while fingerspelling spells words one letter at a time.
Word family
Commonly confused: fingerspelling or sign language? fingerspelling or lip-reading?
fingerspelling vs sign language
Sign language is a full language with grammar and vocabulary, while fingerspelling is just one tool inside it.
fingerspelling vs lip-reading
Lip-reading means understanding speech by watching the mouth, which is not the same as using hand shapes.
Practice
The signer had no sign for the small town's name, so she used ____.
Choose one answer.
Fingerspelling spells a word letter by letter with hand shapes, which fits a name without a sign. Braille and shorthand are other writing systems and lip-reading is a way of reading speech.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fingerspelling”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.