Its used to spell out words like names of people and places. Many words in British Sign Language use letters of the alphabet in them such as 'purple' X Research source, 'colour' X Research source, or 'year' X Research source. Fingerspelling is the British Sign Language (BSL) alphabet. Use the alphabet to help you understand other words in BSL.This can be especially useful if you are having a conversation with someone who is fluent in BSL as they can show you the sign you are spelling, so you come out of it knowing a new sign. If you don't know the sign for a certain word, it can be helpful to fingerspell the word. Fingerspell words you are unsure of the sign for.This can be especially useful for newer words to the English language.

Most words have a sign, however if you come across a word which doesn't have a sign, you can fingerspell the word.

Spell out words which don't have a sign.

The British Sign Language alphabet can be useful for spelling out acronyms such as 'BSL' (British Sign Language).

X Research source For example, if the person is known for being a happy person, their sign name might be the sign for 'happy'. This is a sign that they are referred to as a nickname, rather than spelling individual letters. Many BSL users have a sign name that they are known as to acquaintances.Learning to fingerspell your name in BSL can be a fun introduction to the sign language, especially for children. There are no signs for names, so you have to fingerspell them. Most words have a sign in British Sign Language, so you would typically sign the word rather than the individual letters.

Bsl finger spelling alphabet