fingerprint

fingerprint

See also: finger-print

English

Fingerprint

Alternative forms

• finger-print

Etymology

From finger +‎ print.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪŋɡɚˌpɹɪnt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

fingerprint (plural fingerprints)

1. The natural pattern of ridges on the tips of human fingers, unique to each individual.
2. The patterns left on surfaces where uncovered fingertips have touched, especially as used to identify the person who touched the surface.
   • 1974, Patricia Highsmith, Ripley's Game, chapter 7

     Nervously, he wiped the gun of fingerprints real and imaginary with the stocking-covered fingers.

   • 2012, Christopher C. Harmon, Criminal Investigation, →ISBN, page 108:

     The crime scene investigator has the responsibility of collecting latent fingerprints.

3. (computing) Unique identification for public key in asymmetric cryptosystem.
4. A unique combination of features that serves as an identification of something.
   • 2008, Monika Waksmundzka-Hajnos, Joseph Sherma, & Teresa Kowalska, Thin Layer Chromatography in Phytochemistry, →ISBN, page 40:

     Most pharmacopoeial monographs of medicinal plants include TLC as method for identification based on a chromatographic fingerprint, which consists of a sequence of characteristic substance zones.

   • 2010, Christoph Steiner, Location Fingerprinting for Ultra-wideband Systems, →ISBN, page 9:

     The set of all location fingerprints and coordinates constitutes the location fingerprint database.

5. A trace that gives evidence of someone's involvement.
   • 1999, Arvin S. Gibson, Fingerprints of God, →ISBN, page 141:

     And continue to ask yourself the question, could the incredible complexity of the human body with its multitudinous specialized functions have come into being completely by chance or is it another fingerprint of God?

Hyponyms

• thumbprint

Derived terms

• chemical fingerprint
• fingerprint analysis
• fingerprint powder
• fingerprint recognition
• latent fingerprint

 

Translations

the pattern of ridges on the tips of the fingers

Arabic: بَصْمَة‎ f (baṣma) Armenian: մատնահետք (hy) (matnahetkʿ) Belarusian: адбі́так m (adbítak) Bulgarian: пръстов отпечатък m (prǎstov otpečatǎk) Catalan: empremta (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 指紋／指纹 (zh) (zhǐwén) Czech: otisk prstu m Esperanto: fingrospuro Faroese: fingramerki n Finnish: sormenjälki (fi) French: empreinte digitale (fr) f Galician: dedada du, pegada dixital f German: Fingerabdruck (de) m Greek: δακτυλικό αποτύπωμα n (daktylikó apotýpoma) Hungarian: ujjlenyomat (hu) Icelandic: fingrafar n Irish: méarlorg m Italian: impronta digitale f Japanese: 指紋 (ja) (しもん, shimon) Korean: 지문(指紋) (ko) (jimun) Kyrgyz: бармак тагы (barmak tagı) Lithuanian: pirštų atspaudas m Malay: cap jari Maori: makaurangi Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: fingeravtrykk n Occitan: detada (oc) f, emprenta digitala f Polish: odcisk palca (pl) m Portuguese: impressão digital (pt) f Romanian: amprentă digitală (ro) f Russian: отпеча́ток па́льца m (otpečátok pálʹca), отпеча́ток (ru) m (otpečátok) (па́льца) Scottish Gaelic: meur-lorg f Spanish: huella digital f, huella dactilar f Swahili: alama ya kidole (sw) Swedish: fingeravtryck (sv) n Tagalog: tatak ng daliri, diit, bakas-daliri, tatak-daliri Tamil: கைரேகை (ta) (kairēkai) Thai: ลายนิ้วมือ (laai-níu-mʉʉ) Turkish: parmak izi (tr) Ukrainian: відби́ток m (vidbýtok) Vietnamese: vân tay

the patterns left on surfaces where fingertips have touched

Arabic: بَصْمَة‎ f (baṣma) Armenian: մատնահետք (hy) (matnahetkʿ) Bulgarian: отпечатъци от пръсти pl (otpečatǎci ot prǎsti) Chinese: Mandarin: 指紋／指纹 (zh) (zhǐwén), 指印 (zh) (zhǐyìn) Czech: otisk prstu m Danish: fingeraftryk (da) n Dutch: vingerafdruk (nl) m Finnish: sormenjälki (fi) French: empreinte digitale (fr) f Galician: pegada dixital f German: Fingerabdruck (de) m Greek: δακτυλικό αποτύπωμα n (daktylikó apotýpoma) Hungarian: ujjlenyomat (hu) Irish: méarlorg m Italian: impronta digitale f Japanese: 指紋 (ja) (しもん, shimon) Korean: 지문(指紋) (ko) (jimun) Kyrgyz: бармак тагы (barmak tagı) Lithuanian: pirštų atspaudas m Malay: cap jari Maori: makaurangi, tapukara Norwegian: Bokmål: fingeravtrykk n Nynorsk: fingeravtrykk n Occitan: detada (oc) f Portuguese: impressão digital (pt) f Romanian: amprentă digitală (ro) f Russian: отпеча́ток па́льца m (otpečátok pálʹca), отпеча́тки па́льцев m pl (otpečátki pálʹcev), отпеча́ток (ru) m (otpečátok) (па́льца) Scottish Gaelic: meur-lorg f Spanish: huella digital f, huella dactilar f Swahili: alama ya kidole (sw) Swedish: fingeravtryck (sv) n Thai: ลายนิ้วมือ (laai-níu-mʉʉ) Turkish: parmak izi (tr) Vietnamese: dấu vân tay Welsh: ôl bys m

unique identification for public key in asymmetric cryptosystem

Arabic: بَصْمَة‎ f (baṣma) Chinese: Mandarin: 指紋碼／指纹码 (zhǐwénmǎ) Czech: otisk (cs) m, miniatura f Danish: digitalt fingeraftryk Dutch: digitale vingerafdruk m Finnish: tunniste (fi) Greek: ψηφιακό αποτύπωμα n (psifiakó apotýpoma) Polish: odcisk palca (pl) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Norwegian: (please verify) fingeravtrykk n Turkish: (please verify) Parmak Izi

See also

• (computing): hash

Verb

fingerprint (third-person singular simple present fingerprints, present participle fingerprinting, simple past and past participle fingerprinted)

1. (transitive) To take somebody's fingerprints.

   The jail staff fingerprints its inmates routinely

   • 2017 September 23, “From north Wales to Norfolk, distraught beekeepers ask: who’s stealing our hives?”, in The Observer‎:

     Too often, the union says, farmers feel the police response is inadequate and the sentencing too lenient. It’s a view seemingly shared by one of the latest victims of bee rustling, Norfolk bee keeper Simon Greenwood, who told the Observer that police had taken some photos of the scene, fingerprinted a can and then sent him a letter to say no further action was being taken.

2. (transitive) To identify something uniquely by a combination of measurements.
   • 2004, Philip L. Hageman, Use of Short-Term (5-Minute) and Long-Term (18-Hour) Leaching Tests to Characterize, Fingerprint, and Rank Mine-Waste Material from Historical Mines in the Deer Creek, Snake River, and Clear Creek Watersheds in and around the Montezuma Mining District, Colorado, →ISBN, page 1:

     Analytical results from this combination of leach tests are tools that allow the investigator to quantify (fingerprint) which geochemical components could be expected in runoff from these piles if they were leached by a cloudburst...

   • 2006, Marina May Read, Focus on DNA Fingerprinting Research, →ISBN, page 30:

     A significant disadvantage of DNA fingerprinting that excludes conventional methods of population genetic analysis is an absence of genetic interpretation of hybridization fragment origin.

Translations

to take fingerprints

Dutch: vingerafdrukken nemen, vingerafdrukken maken Finnish: ottaa sormenjäljet Greek: δακτυλοσκοπώ (daktyloskopó) Portuguese: tirar as digitais Russian: дактилоскопи́ровать (ru) (daktiloskopírovatʹ), снима́ть отпеча́тки па́льцев (snimátʹ otpečátki pálʹcev) Swedish: ta fingeravtryck på (någon) , ta någons fingeravtryck

See also

• dactylography
• biometrics