Other forms: tacts
Tact is skill in saying things without giving offence. Show some tact, a lack of tact, handled with tact.
It is knowing what not to say as much as how to say it, which is why it is harder than politeness. It is praised chiefly in its absence: no tact at all. Note tactful and tactless; and that tact comes from the Latin for touch — the same root as contact and tactile — so having tact is literally having a light touch.
1nountactSkill in saying things without giving offence.
“She used great tact when telling her friend that the dress didn't suit her.”
tact is a social skill.
French tact comes from Latin tactus, touch, from tangere. Contact, tactile and tangible come from the same touching, and tact is a light touch in speech.
Proto-Indo-European
*teh₂g-
Latin
tāctus — touched
French
tact
English, today
tact
Built from
French tact, following a semantic shift from earlier tact (“sense of touch; feeling”), borrowed from Latin tāctus (“touched”). The borrowing was likely influenced by earlier tact (“sense of touch; feeling”), which was a parallel borrowing directly from the Latin.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA