haptic

adjective

hap·​tic ˈhap-tik 

1

: relating to or based on the sense of touch

2

: characterized by a predilection for the sense of touch

a haptic person

Did you know?

Haptic felt its way into English in the 19th century as a back-formation of haptics, a noun which was borrowed from the New Latin hapticē (meaning "science of touch," and derived ultimately from the Greek haptesthai, meaning "to touch") in the 1700s. Haptic was originally a medical synonym for tactile. By the 20th century, it had developed a psychological sense, describing individuals whose perception supposedly depended primarily on touch rather than sight. Although almost no one today divides humans into haptic and visual personalities, English retains the broadened psychological sense of haptic as well as the older "tactile" sense.

Examples of haptic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Surface Precision haptic touchpad adapts to your pressure and gives you a ton of control, and the keyboard is responsive and comfortable. —K. Thor Jensen, PCMAG, 21 May 2024

The Surface Laptop 6 could also see a 16GB RAM default and could get a facelift that the business version didn’t, including thinner bezels, rounded corners, and a haptic touchpad. —Wes Davis, The Verge, 20 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from haptics

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Medical Definition

haptic

adjective

hap·​tic ˈhap-tik 

variants also haptical

-ti-kəl 

1

: relating to or based on the sense of touch

the haptic mode of perception

—Colin Gordon

2

: characterized by a predilection for the sense of touch

a haptic person