Translation guide
How to express the action of touching or manipulating with fingers, including musical technique and sexual acts, in Japanese.
General action of using fingers to touch, feel, or manipulate something.
Literally 'touch with fingers'. The most common and neutral way to say 'fingering' in the sense of touching something with your fingers.
Please try fingering the cloth.
Implies fiddling or playing with something using fingers, often casually or restlessly.
He was nervously fingering the pen.
To grope or fumble with fingers, often in the dark or searching for something. Can have a sexual nuance.
He fingered the key in the dark.
The specific placement and movement of fingers on a musical instrument.
Standard term for 'fingering' in music, referring to the technique of finger movement.
The fingering for this piece is difficult.
More general term for 'use of fingers', often used in music contexts but also for typing or other manual skills.
Loanword from English, used in some musical contexts, especially in jazz or contemporary music.
Please teach me the guitar fingering.
Using fingers to sexually stimulate genitals.
Euphemistic and common way to say 'fingering' in a sexual context. Literally 'do with fingers'.
She said she wanted him to finger her.
Slang term specifically for fingering a woman. Abbreviation of '手' (hand) and 'マンコ' (vulgar for vagina).
Very vulgar; use only in extremely casual or intimate contexts.
Literally 'finger insertion'. Used in sexual contexts, often in adult media.
Does fingering feel good?
The English word 'fingering' covers multiple distinct concepts. In Japanese, you must choose the appropriate term based on context: general touching (指で触る), musical technique (運指), or sexual act (指でする). Using the wrong term can cause confusion or embarrassment.
For musical contexts, always use 運指 (unshi) or 指使い (yubizukai). 指で触る (yubi de sawaru) would sound like you are just touching the instrument, not playing it.
Practice piano fingering.
Make her come with fingering.