Added 8 October 2026

touch

/tʌt͡ʃ/ verb

In Latin: tangō, taxō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about touch at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Primarily physical senses. To make physical contact with; to bring the hand, finger or other part of the body into contact with. .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
I touched his face softly.
To make physical contact with; to bring the hand, finger or other part of the body into contact with. .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
I touched his face softly.
To come into (involuntary) contact with; to meet or intersect.
Sitting on the bench, the hem of her skirt touched the ground.

An act of touching, especially with the hand or finger.
Suddenly, in the crowd, I felt a touch at my shoulder.
The faculty or sense of perception by physical contact.
With the lights out, she had to rely on touch to find her desk.
The style or technique with which one plays a musical instrument.
He performed one of Ravel's piano concertos with a wonderfully light and playful touch.

From Middle English touchen, tochen, from Old French tochier (“to touch”) (whence Modern French toucher; compare French doublet toquer (“to offend, bother, harass”)), from Vulgar Latin *tuccō (“to knock, strike, offend”), from Frankish *tukkōn (“to knock, strike, touch”), from Proto-Germanic *tukkōną (“to tug, grab, grasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to draw, pull, lead”). Largely displaced native Middle English rinen, from Old English hrīnan (whence Modern English rine). Doublet of tuck.