haptic

[prettygoodword]

haptic (HAP-tik) - adj., of or relating to the sense of touch, tactile.


And haptics is the science of the sense of touch. A haptic person has a predilection for the sense of touch. Coined around 1890 from the Greek haptikos, to be able to touch or sense, from háptein, to touch or grasp, which also shows up in the prefix form hapto-. Not to be confused (as I'm sure we all do from time to time) with hapticity, which in chemistry has something to do with how a ligand is coordinated with a central atom, and was coined from the grasping sense of the root.

---L.

Comments

[flwyd.livejournal.com]

One common usage of "haptic" is in the context of user interface. E.g., smart phones that vibrate when some event happens are said to give "haptic feedback."

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

And before that, contact lenses were haptic because they conformed to (touched) the full surface of the cornea.

---L.