contact

contact

English

Etymology

From Latin contactus, from contingō (“I touch on all sides”), from tangō (“I touch”). Used in English since the 17th century.

Pronunciation

• (noun):

  (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑntækt/

  (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒntækt/

• (verb):

  (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑntækt/, /kənˈtækt/

  (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒntækt/, /kənˈtækt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækt

Noun

contact (countable and uncountable, plural contacts)

1. The act of touching physically; being in close association.
   • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court:

     She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.

2. The establishment of communication (with).

   I haven't been in contact with her for years.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698:

     In the old days, […] he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.

3. The situation of being within sight of something; visual contact.
   • 1983, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Government Activities and Transportation Subcommittee, Hazardous Obstructions at San Francisco Airport (page 126)

     If the pilot […] cannot establish visual contact with the ground, he must immediately execute a missed-approach procedure […]

4. A nodule designed to connect a device with something else.

   Touch the contact to ground and read the number again.

5. Someone who can be contacted, or with whom one is in communication.

   Who is the company's contact for sales queries?

   The salesperson had a whole binder full of contacts for potential clients.

6. (informal) A contact lens.
7. (electricity) A device designed for repetitive connections.
8. (informal, by ellipsis) Contact juggling.

   I bought myself a new contact ball last week

9. (mining) The plane between two adjacent bodies of dissimilar rock[1].

Derived terms

• body contact
• circle contact lens
• contactable
• contact ball
• contact binary
• contact call
• contact card
• contact details
• contact-free
• contact geometry
• contact high
• contact hitter
• contact inhibition
• contact language
• contactless
• contact level
• contact linguistics
• contact manifold
• contact metamorphism
• contact number
• contact print
• contact process
• contact shoe
• contact sport
• contact trace
• contact-trace
• contact tracer
• contact-tracing
• contact tracing
• contact wire
• electrical contact
• eye contact
• first contact
• fourth point of contact
• golden contact
• language contact
• line of contact
• make contact with
• non-contact, noncontact
• no plan survives contact with the enemy
• on contact
• patient contact
• point of contact/ POC
• rolling contact
• thermal contact

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *teh₂g-‎ (2 c, 0 e)

Translations

an act of touching physically

American Sign Language: Open8@Finger-TipUp-Open8@CenterChesthigh-TipUp Contact Arabic: مُلَامَسَة‎ f (mulāmasa) Azerbaijani: toxunuş, təmas Belarusian: канта́кт m (kantákt) Bulgarian: допир (bg) m (dopir) Catalan: contacte (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 接觸／接触 (zh) (jiēchù) Czech: kontakt (cs) m, dotek (cs) m Danish: kontakt ?, forbindelse ? Dutch: contact (nl) ? Esperanto: kontakto Finnish: kosketus (fi), kontakti (fi) French: contact (fr) m Georgian: შეხება (šexeba), კონტაქტი (ḳonṭakṭi) German: Kontakt (de) m, Berührung (de) f Greek: επαφή (el) f (epafí) Hungarian: kapcsolat (hu) Icelandic: snerting f Italian: contatto (it) m, aggancio (it) m Japanese: 接触 (ja) (せっしょく, sesshoku) Korean: 접촉 (ko) (jeopchok) Latin: contactus (la) m, contāgēs f Luxembourgish: Kontakt m Norwegian: Bokmål: berøring m or f Nynorsk: berøring f Persian: لمس‎ (fa) (lams), تماس‎ (fa) (tamâs) Polish: kontakt (pl) m Portuguese: contato (pt) m (Brazil), contacto (pt) m (Portugal) Romanian: contact (ro) n, atingere (ro) f Russian: конта́кт (ru) m (kontákt), соприкоснове́ние (ru) n (soprikosnovénije), прикоснове́ние (ru) n (prikosnovénije) Spanish: contacto (es) m Swedish: kontakt (sv) c Tamil: தொடல் (ta) (toṭal) Thai: แตะต้อง (th) (dtɛ̀-dtɔ̂ng) Ukrainian: конта́кт m (kontákt) Vietnamese: sự chạm (vi) Volapük: kontag (vo)

an establishment of communication

American Sign Language: Open8@Finger-TipUpPalmForward-Open8@CenterChesthigh-TipUpPalmBack Contact Arabic: إتِّصال‎ m (ʾittiṣāl) Azerbaijani: əlaqə (az) Belarusian: канта́кт m (kantákt), су́вязь f (súvjazʹ) Bulgarian: свързване (bg) n (svǎrzvane), конта́кт (bg) m (kontákt) Catalan: contacte (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 聯繫／联系 (zh) (liánxì); 交往 (zh) (jiāowǎng); 通訊／通讯 (zh) (tōngxùn), 聯絡／联络 (zh) (liánluò) Czech: kontakt (cs) m inan, spojení (cs) n Dutch: contact (nl) ? Finnish: yhteydenotto (fi), kontakti (fi), yhteys (fi) French: contact (fr) m Georgian: დაკავშირება (daḳavšireba), დაკონტაქტება (daḳonṭakṭeba) German: Kontakt (de) m, Verbindung (de) f Greek: επικοινωνία (el) f (epikoinonía) Hindi: संपर्क (hi) ? (sampark) Hungarian: érintkezés (hu) Icelandic: samband (is) n Italian: contatto (it) m Japanese: 接触 (ja) (せっしょく, sesshoku), 連絡 (ja) (れんらく, renraku) Korean: 접촉 (ko) (jeopchok), 연락 (ko) (yeollak) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: پەیوەند‎ (peywend) Northern Kurdish: têkilî (ku) f Luxembourgish: Kontakt m Persian: تماس‎ (fa) (tamâs) Polish: kontakt (pl) m Portuguese: contato (pt) m (Brazil), contacto (pt) m (Portugal) Romanian: legătură (ro) f, contact (ro) n Russian: конта́кт (ru) m (kontákt), связь (ru) f (svjazʹ) Swedish: kontakt (sv) c Tamil: தொடர்பு (ta) (toṭarpu) Thai: ติดต่อ (th) (dtìt-dtɔ̀ɔ) Ukrainian: конта́кт m (kontákt), зв'язо́к (uk) m (zvʺjazók) Vietnamese: sự tiếp xúc (vi)

colloquial: a contact lens — See also translations at contact lens

American Sign Language: Open8@Cheek-PalmBack Open8@Cheek-PalmBack Bulgarian: конта́ктна ле́ща f (kontáktna léšta) Chinese: Mandarin: 隱形眼鏡／隐形眼镜 (zh) (yǐnxíngyǎnjìng) Czech: čočka (cs) f Finnish: piilolinssi (fi) French: lentille (fr) f German: Kontaktlinse (de) f Hungarian: kontaktlencse (hu) Japanese: コンタクト (ja) (kontakuto) Korean: 렌즈 (ko) (renjeu) Luxembourgish: Kontaktlëns f Polish: szkło kontaktowe (pl) n Portuguese: lente de contato (pt) f (Brazil), lente de contacto f (Portugal) Russian: конта́ктная ли́нза (ru) f (kontáktnaja línza), ли́нза (ru) f (línza) Volapük: kontagalentül

electrical: a device designed for repetitive connections

Bulgarian: контакт (bg) m (kontakt) Chinese: Mandarin: 觸點／触点 (chùdiǎn) Czech: kontakt (cs) m inan Finnish: liitin (fi) French: contact (fr) m Japanese: 接点 (ja) (setten), 端子 (ja) (tanshi) Persian: تماس‎ (fa) (tamâs) Polish: kontakt (pl) m Portuguese: contato (pt) m (Brazil) Romanian: contact (ro) n Russian: конта́кт (ru) m (kontákt)

someone with whom one is in communication

American Sign Language: Open8@Finger-TipUp-Open8@CenterChesthigh-TipUp Contact Armenian: կապորդ (hy) (kapord) Azerbaijani: əlaqə (az) Chinese: Mandarin: 聯繫／联系 (zh) (liánxì) Czech: kontakt (cs) m inan Dutch: contact (nl) n Finnish: kontakti (fi), yhteyshenkilö French: contact (fr) m, connaissance (fr) f Greek: σύνδεσμος (el) m (sýndesmos), επαφή (el) f (epafí) Hebrew: איש קשר‎ m Hungarian: kapcsolattartó Icelandic: tengiliður m Italian: contatto (it) m Japanese: 連絡先 (renraku-saki), お問い合わせ (o toiawase) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: پەیوەند‎ (peywend) Ladino: alishik m, kontakto m Maori: hoapā Persian: مخاطب‎ (fa) (moxâtab) Polish: kontakt (pl) m Portuguese: contato (pt) m (Brazil), contacto (pt) m (Portugal) Russian: конта́кт (ru) m (kontákt), связно́й (ru) m (svjaznój) Welsh: cyswllt m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) ко̀нтакт m, (please verify) kòntakt (sh) m Spanish: (please verify) contacto (es) m

Verb

contact (third-person singular simple present contacts, present participle contacting, simple past and past participle contacted)

1. (transitive, occasionally proscribed) To touch; to come into physical contact with.

   The side of the car contacted the pedestrian.

2. (transitive, occasionally proscribed) To establish communication with something or someone.

   I am trying to contact my sister.

Usage notes

• The use of contact as a verb is occasionally discountenanced. Nonetheless, its usefulness and popularity have – at least to some extent – worn down resistance.

Translations

touch physically

Bulgarian: докосвам (bg) (dokosvam), допирам се (dopiram se) Chinese: Mandarin: 接觸／接触 (zh) (jiēchù) Czech: dotýkat se impf, dotknout se pf Dutch: aanraken (nl) Finnish: koskea (fi), osua (fi) French: toucher (fr) German: berühren (de) Ido: kontaktar (io) Japanese: 接触する (ja) (sesshoku suru), 続する (ja) (setsuzoku suru) Lithuanian: liestis impf Luxembourgish: beréieren Maori: whakapāpā, pā, ū Persian: لمس کردن‎ (fa) (lams kardan) Portuguese: tocar (pt), tanger (pt) Telugu: అంటుకొను (te) (aṇṭukonu), ముట్టుకొను (te) (muṭṭukonu), తాకు (te) (tāku)

establish communication with

Arabic: اِتَّصَلَ‎ (ittaṣala) Bulgarian: свързвам се (svǎrzvam se) Catalan: contactar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 聯繫／联系 (zh) (liánxì) Czech: kontaktovat Danish: kontakte Dutch: contacteren (nl) Esperanto: kontakti Finnish: ottaa yhteyttä (fi), ottaa yhteys French: contacter (fr) Georgian: უკავშირდება (uḳavširdeba), ეკონტაქტება (eḳonṭakṭeba) German: kontaktieren (de) Hebrew: יצר קשר‎ (yatsár késher) Icelandic: hafa samband við Italian: contattare (it) Japanese: 連絡する (ja) (renraku suru) Korean: 연락하다 (ko) (yeollak-hada), 련락하다 (ryeollak-hada) (North Korea) Luxembourgish: kontaktéieren Maori: whakapā Norwegian: kontakte (no) Pashto: تماس نیول‎ Persian: تماس گرفتن‎ (tamâs gereftan) Polish: kontaktować się (pl) impf, skontaktować się (pl) pf Portuguese: contactar (pt) (Portugal), contatar (pt) (Brazil) Romanian: a contacta Russian: контакти́ровать (ru) impf or pf (kontaktírovatʹ), свя́зываться (ru) impf (svjázyvatʹsja), связа́ться (ru) pf (svjazátʹsja) Spanish: contactar (es), entrar en contacto con Swedish: kontakta (sv), höra av sig (sv) Telugu: సంపర్కించు (samparkiñcu) Vietnamese: liên lạc (vi)

References

1. 1881, Rossiter W. Raymond, A Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms

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Chinese

Etymology

From English contact.

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): kon¹ tek⁴

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• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: kon¹ tek⁴
    • Yale: kōn tèhk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: kon¹ tek⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: kon¹ tég⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰɔːn⁵⁵ tʰɛːk̚²¹/

Noun

contact

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) contact details

Verb

contact

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to contact; to establish communication with

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Dutch

Alternative forms

• kontakt (superseded)

Etymology

Borrowed from French contact, from Latin contactus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔnˈtɑkt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧tact
• Rhymes: -ɑkt

Noun

contact n (plural contacten, diminutive contactje n)

1. physical contact, touching
2. contact (close association)
3. contact (communication, exchange)
4. contact (someone with whom communication has been established)

Derived terms

• briefcontact
• contactadres
• contactberoep
• contactdoos
• contactkoor
• contactlens
• contactloos
• contactnummer
• contactpersoon
• contactsport
• contactstoornis
• contacttaal
• contactverbod
• e-mailcontact
• huidcontact
• knuffelcontact
• mailcontact
• stopcontact

 

Related terms

• contacteren

Descendants

• Afrikaans: kontak
• → Caribbean Javanese: kontag
• → Indonesian: kontak
• → West Frisian: kontakt

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin contactus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.takt/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

contact m (plural contacts)

1. (physical) contact; contact (with another person)
2. contact (person that one knows)
3. rapport

   Vous avez un bon contact avec les enfants. ― You have a good rapport with children.

Derived terms

• clé de contact
• contact visuel
• lentille de contact
• prendre contact

Further reading

• “contact”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Romanian

Etymology

From French contact.

Noun

contact n (plural contacte)

1. contact

Declension

Declension of contact

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) contact	contactul	(niște) contacte	contactele
genitive/dative	(unui) contact	contactului	(unor) contacte	contactelor
vocative	contactule		contactelor