KnowHow team explains: According to a common superstition, if your second toe is longer than your big toe you are going to beat or rule your husband.

So rejoice!

On a more serious note, many people have longer second toes. The figures vary widely on how many people have it but it seems to be more common in certain ethnic groups.

The hallux or big toe is longer than the second or pointer toe for a majority of people. This is an inherited trait in humans, where the dominant gene causes the normal length hallux. But it is not rare to see people with a longer second toe, commonly known as “mitten foot” or Morton’s toe. It is referred to as a Morton’s toe after the American orthopaedic surgeon and foot anatomist Dudley Joy Morton (1884-1960).

So blame your parents! It is genetic.

A longer second toe is caused by the arrangements of the metatarsal bones in the foot. The second metatarsal bone is longer than the first. This promotes an anterior position of the second metatarsal-phalangeal (MTP) joint in relation to the hallux.

It isn’t just the toe bones themselves but the bones in the body of the foot also. But Morton’s Toe also places pressure under the second toe on the ball of the foot often giving rise to a callus.

Also, people with the rare genetic disease fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva characteristically have longer second toes.