перст

• перстъ (perst) – Pre-reform orthography (1918)

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic прьстъ (prĭstŭ), from Proto-Slavic *pьrstъ.

• IPA^(key): [pʲerst]

перст • (perst) m inan (genitive перста́, nominative plural персты́, genitive plural персто́в)

1. (anatomy, archaic or poetic) finger

   Synonym: (regular term) па́лец (pálec)

   перст судьбы́ ― perst sudʹbý ― the finger of fate

   оди́н как перст ― odín kak perst ― quite alone; all by oneself

   указу́ющий перст ― ukazújuščij perst ― pointing finger

2. (figuratively) destiny, a mystic and secret path or direction brought upon a man (most of the time by God)

   1880, Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, page 306:

   что тут ви́димый перст бо́жий, меня́ охраня́вший ― što tut vídimyj perst bóžij, menjá oxranjávšij ― that it is truly god's will itself, which has protected me

• пе́рстень (pérstenʹ), перстенёк (perstenjók), напёрсток (napjórstok), перча́тка (perčátka)

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), “перст”, in Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), transl. and suppl. by Oleg Trubachyov, Moscow: Progress