contact

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

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

Pronunciation

• (noun):

  IPA^(key): /ˈkɑntækt/

  IPA^(key): /ˈkɒntækt/

• (verb):

  IPA^(key): /ˈkɑntækt/, /kənˈtækt/

  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.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:

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

   Touch the contact to ground and read the number again.

4. Someone with whom one is in communication.

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

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

   I bought myself a new contact ball last week

8. (mining) The plane between two adjacent bodies of dissimilar rock.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Raymond to this entry?)

Derived terms

• body contact
• contactable
• contact hitter
• contactless
• contact shoe
• contact wire
• eye contact
• first contact
• golden contact
• point of contact / POC

 

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)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 接觸／接触 (zh) (jiēchù), 接触 (zh) (jiēchù)

• Czech: kontakt (cs) m, dotek (cs) m
• Danish: kontakt ?, forbindelse ?
• Dutch: contact (nl) ?
• 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
• Japanese: 接触 (ja) (せっしょく, sesshoku)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 접촉 (ko) (jeopchok)
• Latin: contactus (la) m
• 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 (ʔittiṣāl)
• Azerbaijani: əlaqə (az)
• Belarusian: канта́кт m (kantákt), сувя́зь f (suvjázʹ)
• Bulgarian: свързване (bg) n (svǎrzvane), конта́кт (bg) m (kontákt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聯繫／联系 (zh) (liánxì), 联系 (zh) (liánxì); 交往 (zh) (jiāowǎng), 交往 (zh) (jiāowǎng); 通訊／通讯 (zh) (tōngxùn), 通讯 (zh) (tōngxùn), 聯絡／联络 (zh) (liánluò), 联络 (zh) (liánluò)

• Czech: kontakt (cs) ?, spojení (cs) ?
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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:

  Sorani:

• 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 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) (yǐnxíng yǎnjìng), 隐形眼镜 (zh) (yǐnxíngyǎnjìng)

• Czech: čočka (cs) f
• Finnish: piilolinssi (fi)
• French: lentille (fr) f
• German: Kontaktlinse (de) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: kontaktlencse (hu)
• Japanese: コンタクト (ja) (kontakuto)
• Luxembourgish: Kontaktlëns f
• Polish: szkło kontaktowe (pl) n
• Portuguese: lente de contato (pt) f
• Russian: конта́ктная ли́нза (ru) f (kontáktnaja línza), ли́нза (ru) f (línza)
• Volapük: kontagalentül

electrical: a device designed for repetitive connections

• Bulgarian: контакт (bg) ? (kontakt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 觸點／触点, 触点 (chùdiǎn)

• Finnish: liitin (fi)
• French: contact (fr) m
• Japanese: 接点 (setten), 端子 (tanshi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Persian: تماس (fa) (tamâs)
• Polish: kontakt (pl) m
• Portuguese: contato (pt) m
• 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), 联系 (zh) (liánxì)

• Finnish: kontakti (fi), yhteyshenkilö
• French: contact (fr) m, connaissance (fr) f
• Greek: σύνδεσμος (el) m (sýndesmos), επαφή (el) f (epafí)
• Hebrew: איש קשר ?
• Hungarian: kapcsolattartó
• Icelandic: tengiliður m
• Italian: contatto (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 連絡先 (renraku-saki), お問い合わせ (o toiawase)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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) To touch; to come into physical contact with.

   The side of the car contacted the pedestrian.

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

   I am trying to contact my sister.

Translations

touch physically

• Bulgarian: докосвам (bg) (dokosvam), допирам се (dopiram se)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 接觸／接触 (zh) (jiēchù), 接触 (zh) (jiēchù)

• Czech: dotýkat se (cs) impf
• Dutch: aanraken (nl)
• Finnish: koskea (fi)
• French: toucher (fr)
• German: berühren (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: kontaktar (io)
• Japanese: 接触する (sesshoku suru), 接続する (setsuzoku suru)
• Lithuanian: liestis impf
• Luxembourgish: beréieren
• Maori: whakapāpā, pā, ū
• Persian: لمس کردن (fa) (lams kardan)
• Portuguese: entrar em contato, tocar (pt), tanger (pt)
• Telugu: అంటుకొను (te) (aṇṭukonu), ముట్టుకొను (te) (muṭṭukonu), తాకు (te) (tāku)

establish communication with

• Bulgarian: свързвам се (svǎrzvam se)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聯繫／联系 (zh) (liánxì), 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 (renraku suru)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: kontaktéieren
• Maori: whakapā
• Norwegian: kontakte (no)
• Pashto: تماس نیول
• Persian: تماس گرفتن (tamâs gereftan)
• Polish: kontaktować (się) impf, skontaktować (się) pf
• Portuguese: entrar em contato, contatar (pt), contactar (pt)
• 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: please add this translation if you can

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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. contact

Derived terms

• contactdoos
• contactlens
• contactloos
• contactpersoon
• contactstoornis
• contacttaal

 

Related terms

• contacteren

Descendants

• Afrikaans: kontakt
• → Indonesian: kontak

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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.

Further reading

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