Topical

How to spell topical

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce topical

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does topical mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to subjects of current interest or recent events.
2. adjectiveApplied directly to a particular surface of the body, such as the skin.

Topical in a sentence

• The comedian built her routine around topical jokes about the election.

• The pharmacist recommended a topical cream for the rash rather than a tablet.

• The magazine runs a topical column on whatever is dominating the news that week.

• The dentist used a topical anaesthetic on the gum before the injection.

Where does topical come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek topos, which literally meant 'a place'. From topos the Greeks formed topikos, meaning 'of or relating to a place', and Aristotle famously used the noun Topica as the title of a work on the standard 'places' or commonplaces of argument, the stock themes a speaker could draw on. Through Latin topicus and on into English by the late 1500s, the related noun 'topic' came to mean a subject of discussion, and the adjective 'topical' followed. The everyday sense of 'relating to matters of current interest' grew from the idea of subjects people are talking about right now. A separate medical sense, 'applied to a particular place on the body', stayed much closer to the original Greek meaning of topos as a literal location, which is a neat reminder that the same root sits behind both.

How the word is built

• topic- (from Greek topos: a place, hence a subject or theme)
• -al (adjective suffix)