Phrase guide

finger food

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈfɪŋɡə(ɹ)ˌfuːd/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Food that can be eaten with one's hands, as opposed to requiring utensils; often appetizers and snacks.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • He didn't serve a full lunch or dinner at the party, but there was plenty of finger food to munch.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

food to be eaten with the fingers

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: nutriment, nourishment, nutrition, sustenance, aliment, alimentation, victuals

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

18 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 手抓食物 — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Danish: fingermad — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Finnish: sormiruoka — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Finnish: sormisyötävä — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Galician: petisco — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • German: Fingerfood — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Italian: finger food — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Italian: cibo che si mangia senza le posate — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Malay: makanan cekut — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Malay: ماکنن چکوت (makanan cekut) — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fingermat — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fingermat — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Polish: jedzenie spożywane palcami — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Portuguese: petisco — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Spanish: pasaboca — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Spanish: picoteo — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Swedish: plockmat — Food that can be eaten with one's hands
  • Welsh: bwyd bys a bawd — Food that can be eaten with one's hands