Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “tactful” come from?

Tactful derives from English tact, from Latin tactus meaning "touch," from Latin tangere "to touch," from Proto-Indo-European tag-.

tactful (English): Possessing tact; able to deal with people in a...

Definitions

  1. Possessing tact; able to deal with people in a...

Ancestry of “tactful”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishtactThe sense of touch; feeling; The stroke in...
2Frenchtacttact
3Latintāctus—
4Latin-tusForms the past participle of verbs; Forms...
5Proto-Italic-tus—
6Proto-Indo-European-tusDerives action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “tactful”

  • tactfully
  • tactfulness
  • untactful
  • untactfully
  • untactfulness
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tus →