thumbnail

English

Etymology

From thumb +‎ nail. The phrase thumbnail sketch was first attested 1852. Verb sense attested 1930s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθʌm.neɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl

Noun

thumbnail (plural thumbnails)

1. The fingernail on the thumb.
2. A rough sketch (e.g., the size of one's thumbnail).
3. (chiefly computing) A small picture, used as a compact representation of a larger image.
4. (social media) A picture displayed by posts and videos pre-clicked conveying the matters discussed/shown in that post.

Usage notes

• (computing): Unlike an icon, which is generally a representative symbol, a thumbnail is a smaller identical copy of the original larger image.

Derived terms

• thumbnail moon

Descendants

• → Japanese: サムネイル (samuneiru), サムネール (samunēru), サムネ (samune) — clipping
• → Korean: 섬네일 (seomneil)
• → Portuguese: thumbnail
• → German: Thumbnail

Translations

fingernail on the thumb

• Bulgarian: нокът на палеца (nokǎt na paleca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拇指指甲 (mǔzhǐzhǐjiǎ)

• Czech: nehet (cs) na (cs) palci m
• Danish: tommelfingernegl c
• Dutch: duimnagel (nl) m
• Finnish: peukalonkynsi
• French: ongle du pouce m
• German: Daumennagel (de) m
• Irish: ionga ordóige f
• Japanese: 親指の爪 (oyayubi no tsume)
• Korean: 엄지손톱 (eomjisontop)
• Macedonian: палчен нокт m (palčen nokt)
• Polish: paznokieć kciuka m
• Portuguese: unha do polegar f
• Russian: но́готь большо́го па́льца m (nógotʹ bolʹšóvo pálʹca)
• Spanish: uña del pulgar m, uña de pólice f
• Swedish: tumnagel (sv) m
• Vietnamese: móng ngón tay cái
• Volapük: dömanuel

rough sketch

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 粗略草圖 / 粗略草图

• Danish: skitse c
• Estonian: visand
• Finnish: raakaluonnos
• French: croquis (fr) m
• Polish: szkic (pl) m
• Portuguese: esboço (pt) m
• Russian: набро́сок (ru) m (nabrósok), эски́з (ru) m (eskíz)
• Welsh: byrgofiant m

chiefly computing: small picture

• Belarusian: мініяцю́ра f (minijacjúra), карці́нка f (karcínka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 縮略圖 / 缩略图 (zh) (suōlüètú)

• Czech: miniatura m, náhled (cs) m
• Danish: frimærke (da) n, miniaturebillede n
• Erzya: пелькенже (peľkenže)
• Esperanto: bildeto, miniaturo
• Estonian: pisipilt
• Finnish: pienoiskuva, pikkukuva, esikatselukuva
• French: aperçu (fr) m, vignette (fr) f, miniature (fr) f
• Galician: miniatura (gl) f
• German: Vorschaubild (de) n, Thumbnail (de) n or m, Bildvorschau f, Miniaturbild n
• Hungarian: indexkép, nézőkép, miniatűr (hu), miniatűrkép (hu), bélyegkép
• Indonesian: miniatur (id), gambar kecil, gambar mini, keluku (id) (rare)
• Italian: anteprima (it) f, miniatura (it) f
• Japanese: サムネイル (samuneiru)
• Korean: 섬네일 (seomneil)
• Latvian: sīktēls, miniatūra
• Macedonian: сликичка f (slikička)
• Marathi: थंबनेल m (thambnel)
• Norwegian: miniatyrbilde
• Norwegian Nynorsk: miniatyrbilete
• Polish: miniatura (pl) f
• Portuguese: miniatura (pt) f, thumbnail (pt) m
• Romanian: miniatură (ro) f
• Russian: миниатю́ра (ru) f (miniatjúra), карти́нка (ru) f (kartínka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: минијату́ра m

  Roman: minijatúra (sh) m

• Slovak: miniatúra m, náhľad m
• Spanish: miniatura (es) f
• Tagalog: panhinlalaki
• Thai: ภาพขนาดย่อ, รูปขนาดย่อ
• Ukrainian: мініатю́ра f (miniatjúra), карти́нка f (kartýnka)
• Vietnamese: hình nhỏ
• Welsh: mân-lun m

See also

• (computing): icon, thumbshot

Verb

thumbnail (third-person singular simple present thumbnails, present participle thumbnailing, simple past and past participle thumbnailed)

1. (transitive) To describe concisely.
2. (transitive, computing) To create a smaller representation of (a larger image).

Derived terms

• thumbnailer

Translations

describe concisely

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 簡要描述 / 简要描述

• Finnish: kuvata lyhyesti
• Polish: opisywać zwięźle impf, opisać zwięźle pf
• Portuguese: bosquejar (pt), esboçar (pt), esquissar (pt)
• Spanish: pormenorizar (es)

Further reading

• Maven's Word of the Day, December 11, 1997
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “thumb”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English thumbnail.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɐ̃bˈnej.ow/ [tɐ̃bˈneɪ̯.oʊ̯], /tɐ̃.biˈnej.ow/ [tɐ̃.biˈneɪ̯.oʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɐ̃bˈnej.ow/ [tɐ̃bˈneɪ̯.oʊ̯], /tɐ̃.biˈnej.ow/ [tɐ̃.biˈneɪ̯.oʊ̯]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /tɐ̃bˈnej.ow/ [tɐ̃bˈneɪ̯.oʊ̯]

Noun

thumbnail m (plural thumbnails)

1. (computing) thumbnail (a miniature preview of a larger image)

   Synonym: miniatura