touchstone
/ˈtʌt͡ʃstəʊn/noun
touchstone is spelled T-O-U-C-H-S-T-O-N-E: 10 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,912th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, touchstone means “A stone used to verify the quality of gold alloys by rubbing them in order to leave a visible trace” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of touchstone is touchstones.
How many letters and syllables are in touchstone?
| Letters | 10: T-O-U-C-H-S-T-O-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 34,912th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is touchstone?
Touchstone appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,912th 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 touchstone?
- /ˈtʌt͡ʃstəʊn/
Touchstone has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-touchstone.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of touchstone
- touchstones plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does touchstone mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A stone used to verify the quality of gold alloys by rubbing them in order to leave a visible trace.
- 2
A standard of comparison or evaluation.
Near-synonym: comparator
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Touchstone in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | touchau , pierre de touche |
| German | Prüfstein, Probierstein |
| Portuguese | pedra de toque |
| Spanish | piedra de toque, toque , norma |
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 touchstone come from?
From touch + stone.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).