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fingerprint

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Etymology and origin of the English word fingerprint

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1737
Ultimate origins
Old English fingerOld French preinte
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English finger
English fingerprint

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈfɪŋɡɚˌpɹɪnt/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English finger + print.[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier finger mark.[2] The verb, first recorded in 1900, is formed from the noun.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A mark left on a surface by the tip of a finger, especially a dirty or greasy one: 1737.[2] Etymonline dates the noun, also written finger-print, to 1834,[3] Merriam-Webster to 1859[4] and Dictionary.com to 1855–60.[5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, something that shows the presence or activity of a particular person or thing, is recorded as early as 1792.[2] The forensic sense, a fingertip mark used to identify a person from the unique pattern of whorls and lines, is first recorded in 1880, in the American National Police Gazette.[2] Etymonline notes that attempts to classify fingerprint types for identification began in the 1820s, that the arch, loop and whorl system was introduced by Francis Galton in 1892, and that fingerprint evidence was upheld as proof of guilt in a United States murder trial in 1912.[3] The verb, to take a person's fingerprints, followed in 1900.[2][3] From 1931 both noun and verb were used in science for a pattern of properties that uniquely identifies a substance, as found by spectroscopy or chromatography,[2][4] and later in biochemistry and genetics for the pattern of fragments that identifies a protein or a piece of DNA.[6][7] The phrase to leave one's fingerprints all over something, to leave clear evidence of one's involvement, is recorded from 1932.[2]

Timeline

  • 1737 – a mark made by the tip of a finger.[2]
  • 1792 – figurative, a distinctive identifying mark.[2]
  • 1834 – Etymonline's date for the noun.[3]
  • 1880 – a fingertip mark used to identify a person in criminal investigation.[2]
  • 1900 – verb, to take a record of a person's fingerprints.[2][3]
  • 1931 – a characteristic pattern identifying a substance; verb, to identify a substance by analysis.[2]
  • 1932 – to leave one's fingerprints all over something.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An impression of the pattern of ridges on the tip of a finger or thumb, especially one taken in ink or found at a crime scene and used for identification.[6][4][2]
  2. Any mark left by the tip of a finger: There were greasy fingerprints all over the window.[2][4]
  3. Any distinctive identifying characteristic: The style of the forgery bore the fingerprint of a known dealer.[6][4][2]
  4. (biochemistry) The pattern of fragments that identifies a protein or a sample of DNA, as in a genetic fingerprint.[6][7]

Verb

  1. To take the fingerprints of: The suspect was fingerprinted at the station.[4][2][7]
  2. To identify a substance precisely by scientific analysis, as by spectroscopy or chromatography.[4][2]

Word family

  • fingerprinting

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
Cite this entry

“Fingerprint.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/fingerprint. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·