# A short question about fingers: a synonym for phalanx



## Outiboros (Mar 4, 2013)

I'm not a native English speaker, but mostly I get by. What's been bugging me for a while is that I can't find a satisfactory word for the phalanges of the finger.

My native language - Dutch - has the word 'kootje,' which means the segment of a finger between two joints. In English, this becomes 'phalanx' or 'finger bone.' Is phalanx really a household word? I only know it from the more technical, biological definition, where it only refers to the bone, not the flesh and skin.


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## Terry D (Mar 4, 2013)

I don't know of any words for that segment of a finger.  'Phalanx' conjures to mind a marching column of soldiers, rather than a finger in my mind.


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## Kevin (Mar 4, 2013)

In the states at least, we really don't differentiate between finger parts, other than saying the knuckles, 'the part between  this and that, or the tips. ' Phalanx sounds like a history term, like Greek phalanx, not a body part. We're just not that specific. If there's a medical term, in this case at least, the genral public doesn't use it.


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## Outiboros (Mar 4, 2013)

Kevin said:


> In the states at least, we really don't differentiate between finger parts, other than saying the knuckles, 'the part between  this and that, or the tips. ' Phalanx sounds like a history term, like Greek phalanx, not a body part. We're just not that specific. If there's a medical term, in this case at least, the genral public doesn't use it.


Phalanx ís the medical term, I think - phalanx, plural phalanges, not phalanx, plural phalanxes. Those are only the bones, though.

Thanks for your replies. I was thinking I was missing something obvious.


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## Olly Buckle (Mar 4, 2013)

I would differentiate by the joints rather than the sections joining them, as in "Yakusa cut off the top joints of their fingers".


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## Outiboros (Mar 4, 2013)

Olly Buckle said:


> I would differentiate by the joints rather than the sections joining them, as in "Yakusa cut off the top joints of their fingers".


That certainly sounds better than constantly referring to bones. I'll try using it.


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## Bloggsworth (Mar 4, 2013)

Outiboros said:


> Phalanx ís the medical term, I think - phalanx, plural phalanges, not phalanx, plural phalanxes. Those are only the bones, though.
> 
> Thanks for your replies. I was thinking I was missing something obvious.



There's nothing obvious about the English language...


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## archer88iv (Mar 12, 2013)

I think, in English, we tend to refer to the joints rather than the bits in between--like Olly said.


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## Angelwing (Mar 13, 2013)

Anatomically, Phalanx is indeed correct. I remember it well from Anatomy class, since I love military history!


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## Lewdog (Mar 13, 2013)

For portly people I've heard them referred to as sausage links.


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