haptic

Pronounced: HAP-tik, adj

Notes: I didn’t know this word when I first ran across it, but I think I’ve run across it since

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Yesterday’s word

The word gage has quite a variety of origins (and thus meanings):

1. As a verb, “to offer something as a guarantee of good faith”. As a noun, is “a pledge; something offered as a guarantee” or “something thrown down as a symbol of a challenge to fight” (such a gauntlet)
2. As a verb, “to measure of estimate”. As a noun “an instrument or criterion for measuring or testing” or “the thickness or size of something” — such as the diameter of a gun barrel or thickness of wire or sheet metal. This is the meaning I’m familiar with, but I’m used to the spelling ‘gauge’
3. Any of the varieties of plum, such as the greengage

Background / Comments

1. This comes from Old French (gage or guage) by way of Germanic origin. The Germanic ‘w’ sound became ‘g’ or ‘hu’ in some French dialects
2. This comes from Old French gauge (note that different spelling from #1); possibly of unknown origin
3. This is named after William Gage, the botanist who brought it to England from France

First usage

1. This word originated in the 1300s
2. This word is from the mid-1400s
3. This word came into being in the early 1700s.