Etymology
From the proverb "when he should get aught, each finger is a thumb", from John Heywood's Collection of 1546.
Adjective
all thumbs (not comparable)
- (idiomatic) Clumsy; awkward; not dextrous.
I am all thumbs when it comes to shuffling cards.
Translations
clumsy (idiom)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 雞手鴨腳 / 鸡手鸭脚 (gai1 sau2 aap3 goek3)
- Mandarin: 笨手笨腳 / 笨手笨脚 (zh) (bènshǒu-bènjiǎo) (stupid hands, stupid feet)
- Finnish: peukalo keskellä kämmentä
- French: avoir deux mains gauches (fr) (literally “have two left hands”)
- German: zwei linke Hände haben (de) (literally “have two left hands”)
- Italian: goffo (it), impacciato (it), maldestro (it), mano di pastafrolla
- Japanese: 不器用な (ja) (ぶきような, bukiyō na), ぶざまな (ja) (buzama na)
- Navajo: tʼóó bílaʼ dijool (literally “hands are just round”)
- Norwegian: ha ti tommeltotter (literally “have 10 thumbs”)
- Polish: (mieć) dziurawe ręce
- Portuguese: ter dois pés esquerdos (literally “have two left feet”)
- Russian: ру́ки как крю́ки́ (rúki kak krjúkí, literally “hands like hooks”), (euphemism) ру́ки не из того́ ме́ста расту́т (rúki ne iz tovó mésta rastút, literally “hands grow from the wrong spot”), (vulgar) ру́ки из жо́пы расту́т (rúki iz žópy rastút, literally “hands grow from the arse, vulgar”), рукожо́п (ru) (rukožóp, literally “arse-handed”)
- Spanish: torpe (es)
- Swedish: ha tummen mitt i handen (sv) (literally “have the thumb in the middle of the hand”)
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