English
tactile
Tactile comes from Latin tactilis ‘that may be touched, tangible’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teh₂g-‘to touch’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tangō‘to touch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtangōas tangere‘to touch’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtactilis‘that may be touched, tangible’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600tactile
- Englishearliest quotation 1892tactile
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teh₂g-‘to touch’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tangō‘to touch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtangōas tangere‘to touch’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtactilis‘that may be touched, tangible’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600tactile
- Englishearliest quotation 1892tactile
Earliest quotation: 1892, William James: “The delicacy of the tactile sense varies on different…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- ‘to touch’
taste, integrity, integrate, attain, taxis, taxonomy, contagion, talon, contaminate, tama, ataxia, talus, thwack, 30 more
through Proto-Italic *tangō ‘to touch’
through Latin tangō ‘to touch’
contact, contingent, tame, tangible, contiguous, tangent, 10 more
Today it means
adj Tangible; perceptible to the sense of touch.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- / tactile