touch
/tʌt͡ʃ/verb, noun
touch is spelled T-O-U-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 81 times per million words in written English, the 1,302nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, touch means “To make physical contact with; to bring the hand, finger or other part of the body into contact with” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in touch?
| Letters | 5: T-O-U-C-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 81 times per million words; the 1,302nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is touch?
Touch appears 81 times per million words in written English, the 1,302nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce touch?
- /tʌt͡ʃ/
- /tɛt͡ʃ/
- /tɑt͡ʃ/
Touch has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-touch.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-touch.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with touch?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as touch.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: couth, chout.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of touch
- touches present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- touching participle, present
- touched participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does touch mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To make physical contact with; to bring the hand, finger or other part of the body into contact with.
I touched his face softly.
- 2
To come into (involuntary) contact with; to meet or intersect.
Sitting on the bench, the hem of her skirt touched the ground.
- 3
To come into physical contact, or to be in physical contact.
They stood next to each other, their shoulders touching.
- 4
To make physical contact with a thing.
Please can I have a look, if I promise not to touch?
- 5
To physically disturb; to interfere with, molest, or attempt to harm through contact.
If you touch her, I'll kill you.
- 6
To make intimate physical contact with a person.
The man was arrested for touching a girl without her consent.
- 7
rareTo sexually excite with the fingers; to finger or masturbate.
Her parents had caught her touching herself when she was fifteen.
- 8
To have sexual intercourse with
Tell me the truth, did you touch her?
noun
- 1
An act of touching, especially with the hand or finger.
Suddenly, in the crowd, I felt a touch at my shoulder.
- 2
The faculty or sense of perception by physical contact.
With the lights out, she had to rely on touch to find her desk.
- 3
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.
- 4
The particular or characteristic mode of action, or the resistance of the keys of an instrument to the fingers.
a heavy touch, or a light touch
- 5
A distinguishing feature or characteristic.
Clever touches like this are what make her such a brilliant writer.
- 6
A little bit; a small amount.
Move it left just a touch and it will be perfect.
- 7
The part of a sports field beyond the touchlines or goal-lines.
He got the ball, and kicked it straight out into touch.
- 8
A relationship of close communication or understanding.
He promised to keep in touch while he was away.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Touch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | toucher , émouvoir , contact |
| German | anfassen, angreifen, berühren , bewegen, rühren , Berührung |
| Portuguese | tocar , toque , tato |
| Spanish | tocar, tactar, palpar, apalpar, tangir, tastar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does touch come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).