Meaning
A natural talent for growing plants successfully, making them thrive where others fail. Chiefly British, and usually found in the phrases 'have green fingers' or the adjectival 'green-fingered'; American English prefers 'green thumb'. Complimentary, often with a trace of envy. Warm and complimentary, associated with the domestic garden; the American form is 'green thumb'. Regional use: British English.
Origin
A British phrase, first recorded in 1906 in Mary Stuart Boyd's story collection The Misses Make-believe, which speaks of 'green-fingered grandmothers' and of 'what old wives call green fingers'; the OED's earliest citation of the verbal construction 'have green fingers' is Stuart Cloete's 1943 novel Congo Song. The American equivalent 'green thumb' is younger: The Phrase Finder records its first appearance in the Ironwood, Michigan, Daily Globe of 9 July 1937, described there as horticultural slang, and Etymonline dates it 'by 1938'. Why green was chosen is not documented; the suggestion that it refers to the green-stained fingers of a working gardener is plausible folklore rather than established fact, and the Phrase Finder explicitly labels folk derivations invoking a Green Man or King Midas as speculation.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- green thumb
- green-fingered
- have a green thumb
- have green fingers
Usage Examples
- My grandmother had green fingers; roses bloomed for her that failed for everyone else.
- If you have green fingers, the community allotment is looking for volunteers.
- He claims his green fingers come from talking to the seedlings every morning.