via muscular tendons that attach to the toes on the anterior and superior surfaces of the phalanx bones.

These attach to the sides of the bones,[1]: 572–75  making it impossible to move individual toes independently.

[2] People with the rare genetic disease fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva characteristically have a short hallux which appears to turn inward, or medially, in relation to the foot.

Research conducted for the U.S. Army indicated that larger feet may still have smaller arches, toe length, and toe-breadth.

Specifically, the toes assist the human while walking,[5] providing balance, weight-bearing, and thrust during gait.

Long-term use of improperly sized shoes can cause misalignment of toes, as well as other orthopedic problems.

This is a contraction of tāhe, and derives from Proto-Germanic *taihwǭ (cognates: Old Norse tá, Old Frisian tāne, Middle Dutch tee, Dutch teen (perhaps originally a plural), Old High German zēha, German Zehe), perhaps originally meaning 'fingers' as well (many Indo-European languages use one word to mean both 'fingers' and 'toes', e.g. digit), and thus from PIE root *deyḱ- — 'to show'.

[11] In classical Latin, hallex,[12][13] allex,[12][14] hallus[12] and allus,[12] with genitive (h)allicis and (h)alli, are used to refer to the big toe.

Haeckel traces the standard vertebrate five-toed schema from fish fins via amphibian ancestors.

[16] In birds with anisodactyl or heterodactyl feet, the hallux is opposed or directed backwards and allows for grasping and perching.

as one of the signature characteristics in humans, this manual digit remains partially primitive and is actually present in all primates.