Pronounced: SPIT-fire, noun
Notes: This word is lowercase, and thus NOT the British fighter aircraft associated with World War II (actually, it existed before the war, and remained in use afterwards). Anyway, that is not this word.
Yesterday’s word
The word haptic means
- relating to or based on the sense of touch
- characterized by a predilection for the sense of touch
Background / Comments
This word comes from Greek haptesthai (to touch), and the first meaning was around first (see below). Later, psychologists began to divide people into ‘visual’ and ‘haptic’ personalities and the second meaning arose (this division is uncommon today).
First usage
The first meaning is from the late 1800s; the second meaning comes from the mid-1900s
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 