thumbnail

From thumb +‎ nail. The phrase thumbnail sketch was first attested 1852. Verb sense attested 1930s.

• IPA^(key): /ˈθʌm.neɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪl

thumbnail (plural thumbnails)

1. The fingernail on the thumb.
2. A rough sketch (e.g., the size of one's thumbnail).
3. (chiefly computing) A small picture, used as a compact representation of a larger image.
4. (social media) A picture displayed by posts and videos pre-clicked conveying the matters discussed/shown in that post.

• (computing): Unlike an icon, which is generally a representative symbol, a thumbnail is a smaller identical copy of the original larger image.

• thumbnail moon

• → Japanese: サムネイル (samuneiru), サムネール (samunēru), サムネ (samune) — clipping
• → Portuguese: thumbnail
• → German: Thumbnail

• (computing): icon, thumbshot

thumbnail (third-person singular simple present thumbnails, present participle thumbnailing, simple past and past participle thumbnailed)

1. (transitive) To describe concisely.
2. (transitive, computing) To create a smaller representation of (a larger image).

• thumbnailer

• Maven's Word of the Day, December 11, 1997
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “thumb”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Unadapted borrowing from English thumbnail.

thumbnail m (plural thumbnails)

1. (computing) thumbnail (a miniature preview of a larger image)

   Synonym: miniatura