Fat finger

Updated: 02/06/2025 by Computer Hope
Fat finger

To "fat finger" means to type clumsily, resulting in a typo. It refers playfully to a person whose fingers are "too fat" to accurately depress the correct key on a keyboard. So, they end up pressing more than one key at the same time. Fat fingering may happen because of big fingers but may also happen because of long fingernails, a disability, user error, or a bandaid (pictured).

Tip

If you frequently fat finger on a desktop computer keyboard only because of user error, consider switching to a mechanical keyboard. The key switches in a mechanical keyboard have a more tactile feedback that improves typing over a membrane keyboard.

Tip

If you have a hard typing for any reason consider using voice recognition and speak to the computer instead of type. Voice recognition is also easier when needing to type on a small keyboard, like those used on smartphones when sending a text message.

Computer slang, Finger, Keyboard terms, Phone terms, Pocket dial