touch

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The sense by which you feel things through your skin.

   Only sight and touch help us locate objects around us.

2. 2
   noun

   The feeling you get when something presses against your skin.

   I love the soft touch of silk against my skin.

3. 3
   noun

   A small amount or sign of some quality.

   There was a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

4. 4
   noun

   A particular style or special quality someone adds.

   This room really needs a woman's touch.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Touch came into Middle English from Old French tochier, “to touch,” whose modern French form is toucher. Modern French toucher also gave English touché in the late 19th century. Literally meaning “touched,” touché is used in fencing to acknowledge an opponent’s hit and more generally to recognize a clever point in a discussion.

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. Cognates Cognate with Old High German zochhōn, zuhhōn (“to grasp, take, seize, snatch”) (whence Ge…

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