contact: [17] The underlying notion of contact is not surprisingly one of ‘touching’. It comes ultimately from Latin tangere ‘touch’, source of English tactile, tangent, and tangible. Using the prefix com- ‘together’ this was formed into a compound verb contangere ‘touch, border on’, whose past participle contāctus was borrowed into English, originally as a noun (its use as a verb is a surprisingly late development, which did not happen until the late 19th century). Also derived from Latin contangere is contagion [14], and contaminate is probably related. => contagion, contaminate, tactile, tangent, tangible
contact (v.)
1834, "put in contact," from contact (n.). Meaning "get in touch with" is 1927, American English. Related: Contacted; contacting.
contact (n.)
1620s, "action of touching," from Latin contactus "a touching," from past participle of contingere "to touch, seize," from com- "together" (see com-) + tangere "to touch" (see tangent (adj.)).
Figurative sense of "connection, communication" is from 1818. As a signal to the person about to spin an aircraft propeller that the ignition is switched on, the word was in use by 1913. Contact lens is first recorded 1888; short form contact is from 1961.
双语例句
1. Friendship means understanding, not agreement. It means forgiveness, not forgetting.It means the memories last, even if contact is lost.
友情是理解，不是妥协；是原谅，不是遗忘。即使不联系，感情依然在。
来自金山词霸 每日一句
2. The college has brought me into contact with western ideas.
上大学使我接触了西方的思想。
来自柯林斯例句
3. He made contact with someone with an idea for reconditioning laser copiers.
他联系了一个会修理激光复印机的人。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The exiles had been cut off from all contact with their homeland.
流亡者被切断了与家乡的所有联系。
来自柯林斯例句
5. This morning he had tried every way possible to contact her.
