touchstone

See also: Touchstone

English

Etymology

touch +‎ stone

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈtʌt͡ʃstəʊn/
Audio (Southern England) (file)

Noun

touchstone (plural touchstones)

A stone used to check the quality of gold alloys by rubbing them to leave a visible trace.
(figurative, by extension) A standard of comparison or evaluation.
- 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC:
  The foregoing doctrine affords us also a touchstone for the trial of spirits.
- 1950 January, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 12:
  "Expectation of life" is an elastic term: the touchstone here is rather the aggregate amount of work that the locomotive does during its working life.
- 2012, Ann Baynes Coiro, Thomas Fulton, Rethinking Historicism from Shakespeare to Milton, page 243:
  In the print firestorm that followed the publication of the royal couple's letters, the generalissima was one polemical touchstone. The Annotations to The Kings Cabinet Opened itself depicted the queen as an enemy to king and country: […]

Translations

stone used to test the quality of gold alloys

Arabic: مِحَكّ‎ m (miḥakk)
Armenian: փորձաքար (hy) (pʿorjakʿar)
Old Armenian: սմպատակ (smpatak)
Basque: froga-harri
Bulgarian: пробен камък m (proben kamǎk)
Burmese: မှတ်ကျောက် (my) (hmatkyauk)
Catalan: pedra de toc f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 試金石／试金石 (zh) (shìjīnshí)
Czech: prubířský kámen (cs) m
Danish: prøvesten
Dutch: toetssteen (nl) m
Finnish: koetinkivi (fi)
French: touchau (fr) m
Galician: pedra de toque (gl) f
German: Prüfstein (de) m, Probierstein (de) m
Greek: λυδία λίθος (el) (lydía líthos)
Hindi: कसौटी (hi) f (kasauṭī), निकष (hi) m (nikaṣ), निकषण (hi) m (nikṣaṇ), परस (hi) m (paras), पारस (hi) m (pāras), शान (hi) m (śān), सान (hi) m (sān), स्पर्शमणि (hi) f (sparśamṇi)
Hungarian: próbakő (hu)
Icelandic: prófsteinn m
Italian: pietra di paragone
Japanese: 試金石 (ja) (しきんせき, shikin seki)
Korean: 시금석 (sigeumseok)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: prøvestein

Nynorsk: prøvestein
Ottoman Turkish: مهنك‎ (mehenk)
Persian: سنگ محک‎
Polish: kamień probierczy m
Portuguese: pedra de toque f
Russian: проби́рный ка́мень (ru) m (probírnyj kámenʹ)
Serbo-Croatian: пробни камен m, probni kamen m
Spanish: piedra de toque (es) f, toque (es) m
Swedish: probersten (sv) c, prövosten c
Turkish: denek taşı, mihenk (tr), mihenk taşı (tr)
Ukrainian: пробірний камінь m (probirnyj kaminʹ)
Yiddish: אבֿן־בוחן‎ m (evn-boykhn)

standard of comparison or evaluation

Armenian: չափանիշ (hy) (čʿapʿaniš), փորձաքար (hy) (pʿorjakʿar)
Bulgarian: критерий (bg) m (kriterij)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 試金石／试金石 (zh) (shìjīnshí)
Dutch: maatstaf (nl) m, toetssteen (nl) m
Finnish: koetinkivi (fi)
French: pierre de touche (fr) f
Galician: pedra de toque (gl) f
German: Prüfstein (de) m
Hindi: मानदंड (hi) m (māndaṇḍ), पैमाना (hi) m (paimānā), परीक्षा (hi) f (parīkṣā), कसौटी (hi) f (kasauṭī), निकषण (hi) m (nikṣaṇ)
Hungarian: ismérv (hu), kritérium (hu)
Italian: pietra di paragone f
Japanese: 試金石 (ja) (しきんせき, shikin seki)
Korean: 기준 (ko) (gijun)
Polish: probierz m
Portuguese: pedra de toque f
Spanish: norma (es) f
Swedish: prövosten c
Turkish: denek taşı, mihenk (tr), mihenk taşı (tr)

Anagrams

touch-tones, touchtones

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