caress

To caress somebody is to stroke them gently and lovingly. Slow, and with the whole hand.

The tenderness is what defines it, which is why the word belongs to affection rather than to any ordinary touch. It works as a noun and a verb without changing shape. Writing extends it to things that touch lightly, so a breeze can caress a face and light can caress a surface, and both are firmly literary. The word came from Italian by way of French, from the root that also gives English charity and caring.