English

fingerplate

From finger + plate.

A compound of finger + plate

Proto-Germanic *fingraz ‘finger’

Proto-West Germanic *fingr

Old English finger

Middle English fynger ‘a finger’

Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- ‘flat’

…

Vulgar Latin *plattus ‘flat’

Medieval Latin plata

Old French plate ‘a flat metal disk’

Middle English plate

English plate

Today it means

noun A strip of metal, glass, etc., to protect a painted or polished door from finger marks.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / fingerplate