overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

touchy.

Extremely sensitive or volatile; easily disturbed to the point of becoming unstable; requiring caution or tactfulness.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈtʌt͡ʃi/
  1. Extremely sensitive or volatile; easily disturbed to the point of becoming unstable; requiring caution or tactfulness.

    It is an extremely touchy situation, with everybody's patience wearing thin.
  2. Easily offended, oversensitive.

    He can be very touchy when you talk about his estranged son, so be as tactful as possible.
  3. Inclined to engage in physical touch.

    informal
Where this word comes from

A variant of earlier tetchy (“cranky, easily annoyed, difficult to handle”), under influence from some senses of touch (“affect, disturb”) and simulating touch + -y.

verb/ˈtʌt͡ʃi/
  1. To touch.

    ambitransitive · childish
Where this word comes from

A variant of earlier tetchy (“cranky, easily annoyed, difficult to handle”), under influence from some senses of touch (“affect, disturb”) and simulating touch + -y.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

touchy has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

touchy studiotouchy workshello, touchy

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.