thumbnail

English

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thumbnail

Wikipedia

Etymology

From thumb +‎ nail. Compare West Frisian tommeneil (“thumbnail”), Dutch duimnagel (“thumbnail”), German Daumennagel (“thumbnail”).

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), превью (ru) n (prevʹju) 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