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up vote 3 down vote favorite

Ok.. I broke some toes in my foot and I want to tell a friend about it on Facebook.

Now, here's the problem. Every foot has 5 toes. Only 3 toes have a name:

  • big toe
  • middle toe
  • small toe

What's the name of the others?

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8  
This little piggie went to market, this little piggie stayed home, this little piggie had roast beef, ... – GEdgar Dec 4 '11 at 0:06
7  
So the names are market toe, home toe, roast beef toe, none toe, and wee toe? – Peter Shor Dec 4 '11 at 0:23
2  
-1 and voting to close as general reference because the question shows no research and can be answered by Wikipedia. – Hugo Dec 4 '11 at 10:17

closed as general reference by Hugo, kiamlaluno, Marthaª, RegDwighт♦ Dec 9 '11 at 20:50

This question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link to a standard internet reference source designed specifically to find that type of information. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

The toes are, from medial to lateral:

  • Hallux ("big toe" or "great toe"), the innermost (most proximal) toe and the closest to the toes of the other foot
  • Second toe or "long toe" (although commonly shorter than the big toe)
  • Third toe, occasionally described as the "ring toe"
  • Fourth toe, sometimes described as the "ring toe"
  • Fifth toe ("little toe", "pinky toe", or "baby toe"), the outermost (most distal) toe
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4  
I wonder how many understand what I am talking about when I say that my hallux hurts. – Enrico Pallazzo Dec 4 '11 at 1:31
If you were a monkey it would be the thumb toe. – Tor Valamo Dec 4 '11 at 2:17
up vote 4 down vote

Looking on Ngrams, the names that are most used appear to be:

Big toe,
Second toe,
Third toe (or middle toe),
Fourth toe,
Little toe (or fifth toe).

I have left "big toe" out of the Ngram, because it dominates everything else.

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up vote 3 down vote

To continue your naming terminology (which are the common names anyway):

  • Big toe
  • Index toe
  • Middle toe
  • Ring toe
  • Pinky toe
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up vote 1 down vote

There are medical technical terms for each of the toes, but in common parlance, only two toes have names, the big toe and the pinky toe (the smallest one).

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