touch

Where “touch” sits in English frequency

Definition

1. 1
   Primarily physical senses.
2. 2
   Primarily physical senses.
3. 3
   Primarily physical senses.
4. 4
   Primarily physical senses.
5. 5
   Primarily physical senses.
6. 6
   Primarily physical senses.
7. 7
   Primarily physical senses.
8. 8
   Primarily physical senses.
9. 9
   Primarily physical senses.
10. 10
    Primarily physical senses.
11. 11
    Primarily physical senses.
12. 12
    Primarily physical senses.
13. 13
    Primarily physical senses.
14. 14
    Primarily physical senses.
15. 15
    Primarily physical senses.
16. 16
    Primarily physical senses.
17. 17
    Primarily physical senses.
18. 18
    Primarily non-physical senses.
19. 19
    Primarily non-physical senses.
20. 20
    Primarily non-physical senses.
21. 21
    Primarily non-physical senses.
22. 22
    Primarily non-physical senses.
23. 23
    Primarily non-physical senses.
24. 24
    Primarily non-physical senses.
25. 25
    Primarily non-physical senses.
26. 26
    Primarily non-physical senses.
27. 27
    Primarily non-physical senses.
28. 28
    Primarily non-physical senses.
29. 29
    Primarily non-physical senses.
30. 30
    To try; to prove, as with a touchstone.
31. 31
    To mark or delineate with touches; to add a slight stroke to with the pencil or brush.
32. 32
    To infect; to affect slightly.
33. 33
    To strike; to manipulate; to play on.
34. 34
    To perform, as a tune; to play.
35. 35
    To influence by impulse; to impel forcibly.

Etymology

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 German zucken (“to jerk, flinch”)), German Low German tucken, tocken (“to fidget, twitch, pull up, entice, throb, knock, repeatedly tap”), Middle Dutch tocken, tucken (“to touch, entice”) (whence Dutch tokkelen (“to strum, pluck”)), Old English tucian, tūcian (“to disturb, mistreat”) (whence Modern English tuck). Compare also Old High German tokkōn, tockōn (“to abut, collide”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian cek (“to touch”), Old Church Slavonic тъкнѫти (tŭknǫti). More at tuck, take.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: otuch,tocuh,toucch,touchh,touhc,ttouch,tuoch

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of touch - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

Frequently Asked Questions