食指

shízhǐ
noun #15,978

Meanings

  1. 1 index finger
  2. 2 (literary) mouths to feed

Examples

Tā yòng shízhǐ zhǐ le zhǐ fāngxiàng.
He pointed in the direction with his index finger.
Shízhǐ dàdòng, wén dào le hǎochī de.
My appetite was whetted — I smelled something delicious.

Tips

history
The name 食指 (eating finger) comes from the ancient custom of using this finger to taste food. The idiom 食指 (index finger twitches) originated from the Zuozhuan, where a nobleman's twitching finger predicted he was about to taste a delicacy.

Stroke Order

shí
zhǐ