What does touchable mean?
Touchable is an adjective meaning that something can be touched or perceived through touch. Its clearest use is literal: a surface may be touchable, and an object may be touchable in a display. The word can also be used figuratively for something that affects the feelings, though “touching” is usually more natural in modern English. As a rare noun, “a touchable” means a tangible thing or entity, and “touchables” may refer to physical objects as a group. In everyday description, tangible is generally the more familiar choice, especially for differences, assets, evidence, and qualities that can be clearly perceived or acted upon. Touchable nevertheless has a direct, emphatic quality and can be useful when the physical fact of contact is what matters. It derives from touch plus the suffix -able, and ultimately from Latin tangere, “to touch,” the root also preserved in words such as tangent, tactile, and tangible.
Able to be touched or perceived by touch; also, figuratively, able to affect or move the emotions.
"The museum placed the fragile textiles behind a sheet of touchable glass."
The emotional sense is less common than the physical sense, and “touching” is often preferred in contemporary prose.
A thing or person that may be touched; a tangible object or entity.
"The old coin was the only touchable that the curator allowed visitors to pick up."
This noun is rare and is more commonly encountered in the plural “touchables.”
The plural is standard but uncommon; it is sometimes used collectively for tangible or physical objects.
"Several of the museum's archaeological touchables were displayed behind glass."
Touchable shares its root with tangent: both trace back to the Latin tangere, meaning “to touch.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does touchable come from?
Touchable was formed in English by combining touch with the suffix -able, meaning “able to be” or “capable of being.” The English word touch comes through Old French toucher from Latin tangere, “to touch.” The same Latin root also produced cognates and related forms including tangible, tactile, and tangent.
Related word forms
How touchable is actually used
Touchable is standard but less common than tangible in general description. Its figurative emotional sense is well established, although “touching” is usually more idiomatic in modern usage. The noun is rare and sounds more natural in the plural when referring collectively to physical objects.
Easily confused with touchable
Touchable means able or permitted to be touched, whereas untouchable means unable or prohibited from being touched.