tactile

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 24, 2010 is: tactile • \TAK-tul\ • adjective 1 : perceptible by touch 2 : of, relating to, or being the sense of touch Examples: "Nothing prepared me for the tactile reality of the original volumes, leaf after carefully written leaf over which his hand had travelled...." (Edmund Morris, The New Yorker, January 16, 1995) Did you know? "Tangible" is related to "tactile," and so are "intact," "tact," "contingent," "tangent," and even "entire." There's also the uncommon noun "taction," meaning "the act of touching." Like "tactile," all of these words can be traced back to the Latin verb "tangere," meaning "to touch." "Tactile" made its way to our language by way of French, touching ground in English in the early 17th century. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.