Wedding Finger
Preserved but no longer current.
The fourth finger of the left hand. Macrobius says the thumb is too busy to be set apart, the forefinger and little ringer arc only half protected, the middle linger is called medicus, and is too opprobious for the purpose of honour, so the only finger left is thspronftbitf.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Wedding Finger” mean?
The fourth finger of the left hand. Macrobius says the thumb is too busy to be set apart, the forefinger and little ringer arc only half protected, the middle linger is called medicus, and is too opprobious for the purpose of honour, so the only finger left is thspronftbitf.
Is “Wedding Finger” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.