Also called: Suppleness · The spendthrift thumb

Where on the hand: Tested by bending the fingers back at the knuckles, and by the backward bend of the thumb. The habitual way the hand opens and closes is read alongside.

What it looks like: Stiff and unyielding at one extreme; extremely supple, with fingers bending far back and a thumb curving markedly backward, at the other. The classical extreme case is the spendthrift thumb.

Flexibility measures adaptability of mind — how readily a person changes an opinion, a plan or a habit — and, in the classical reading, how readily money leaves the hand. Moderate flexibility is the ideal.

Western reading: The spendthrift thumb — a thumb curving markedly backward — is the classical Western shorthand for generosity outrunning prudence.