English · Idiom Candidate

point the finger at

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To blame or accuse someone

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Bắt lỗi hoặc buộc tội ai đó

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to physically point at someone

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She pointed the finger at her colleague for the mistake

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent chỉ tay năm ngón (verb) to conceitedly point the finger at people, especially to tell them what to do Tiếng Việt

Topics: Hands

Common questions

What does “point the finger at” mean?

To blame or accuse someone Literally: to physically point at someone

Is “point the finger at” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

What is the closest equivalent?

“chỉ tay năm ngón” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.