contact
pronunciation
How to pronounce contact in British English:
UK 
How to pronounce contact in American English:
US
Word Origin
- contact
- contact: [17] The underlying notion of contact is not surprisingly one of ‘touching’. It comes ultimately from Latin tangere ‘touch’, source of English tactile, tangent, and tangible. Using the prefix com- ‘together’ this was formed into a compound verb contangere ‘touch, border on’, whose past participle contāctus was borrowed into English, originally as a noun (its use as a verb is a surprisingly late development, which did not happen until the late 19th century). Also derived from Latin contangere is contagion [14], and contaminate is probably related.=> contagion, contaminate, tactile, tangent, tangible
- contact (v.)
- 1834, "put in contact," from contact (n.). Meaning "get in touch with" is 1927, American English. Related: Contacted; contacting.
- contact (n.)
- 1620s, "action of touching," from Latin contactus "a touching," from past participle of contingere "to touch, seize," from com- "together" (see com-) + tangere "to touch" (see tangent (adj.)). Figurative sense of "connection, communication" is from 1818. As a signal to the person about to spin an aircraft propeller that the ignition is switched on, the word was in use by 1913. Contact lens is first recorded 1888; short form contact is from 1961.
Example
- 1. May I have your contact address in this city ?
- 2. Perhaps you could contact them about it .
- 3. Protect yourself by limiting your contact with them .
- 4. Yacutinga 's great strength is the up-close contact it provides with nature .
- 5. But the entrepreneurs try to avoid contact with the bihar government as much as possible .