Touchy

How to spell touchy

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce touchy

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does touchy mean?

1. adjectiveInclined to take offence quickly or to be unusually sensitive about something.
2. adjectiveRequiring careful or tactful handling because it could easily cause trouble.

Touchy in a sentence

• He gets touchy whenever anyone questions his decisions.

• Negotiating the redundancies was a touchy matter for the managers.

• She is rather touchy about her age, so the team avoids the subject.

• The merger reached a touchy stage where one careless remark could collapse the deal.

Where does touchy come from?

Language of origin: French

This word is built from the verb 'touch' plus the adjective ending '-y', which means 'inclined to' or 'prone to'. The verb 'touch' came into English in the 1200s from the Old French touchier, meaning 'to touch, strike or handle', which traces back to a Vulgar Latin form toccare that imitated the sound of a knock or tap. By the 1600s English writers had attached '-y' to make 'touchy', describing a person who reacts to the slightest contact, whether physical or, more often, emotional. The sense slid quickly from 'sensitive to the touch' toward 'quick to take offence', because someone easily provoked behaves as if even a light prod is too much. A handy memory aid is that the spelling keeps the whole word 'touch' intact and simply adds '-y', with no 'e' surviving before the suffix.

How the word is built

• touch (from Old French touchier: to touch)
• -y (adjective suffix: inclined to)