Touches

How to spell touches

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce touches

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does touches mean?

1. verbMakes physical contact with something or someone; used with a singular subject in the present tense.
2. nounSmall details or finishing acts that improve or complete something.

Touches in a sentence

• verb

  The engineer checks that no wire touches the metal casing.

• noun

  The designer added a few personal touches to the office.

• verb

  She never touches the keyboard without washing her hands first.

• noun

  The final touches on the report took the whole afternoon.

Where does touches come from?

Language of origin: French

The base word touch came into English in the 1200s from the Old French verb touchier, meaning 'to feel by handling' or 'to strike'. That French verb descended from the Vulgar Latin form toccare, which originally imitated the sound of a knock or tap, a bit like saying 'tock'. Over the centuries the violent sense of striking faded and the gentler sense of making physical contact or affecting someone emotionally took over. The spelling kept the French -ch and the ou vowel, which is why the word looks softer than the blunt 'tuch' it is pronounced like. The inflected form touches simply adds -es because the stem ends in the -ch sound, the same rule that gives us catches and matches. The very same toccare root also gave Italian its musical term toccata, a piece that 'touches' the keys quickly.

How the word is built

• touch (from Old French touchier: to feel, strike)
• -es (third-person singular / plural suffix)