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Tetched vs Etched - What's the difference?

tetched | etched |

As adjectives the difference between tetched and etched

is that tetched is touched: mildly deranged, somewhat mentally dysfunctional while etched is cut or dug into the surface as by etching.

As a verb etched is

past tense of etch.

tetched

English

Alternative forms

* teched

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (chiefly, US, colloquial) Touched: mildly deranged, somewhat mentally dysfunctional.
  • * 1889 , , Queen Hildegarde , ch. 9:
    • "His mind was as keen as a razor, an' as straight-edged, 'xcept jest on one subject. On that he was, so to say, a little—wal—a little tetched ."
  • * 1959 April 21, , " Oh Why Can't He See 'Dawn's Early Light'?, St. Petersburg Times (USA) (retrieved 26 June 2012):
    • Just because he has trouble with the last verse of the Star Spangled Banner doesn't mean he's tetched . Maybe he has a mental block because you've been hammering him over the skull for three years about it.
  • * 1982 Sep. 27, , " Books Of The Times]" (review of Goosefoot'' by [[w:Patrick McGinley, Patrick McGinley]), ''New York Times (retrieved 26 June 2012):
    • There's a murderer about, but how can you spot him when everyone is moon-tetched ?
  • (chiefly, US, colloquial) Touched: physically contacted, impacted, or handled.
  • * 1899 , , "Dick Spindler's Family Christmas" in Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation and Other Stories :
    • "They ain't bin tetched or handled by any one but the Kempany's agents."
  • * , "The Reformation Of Calliope":
    • "That bullet never tetched ye!"

    Synonyms

    * (mildly deranged) touched in the head

    References

    *

    etched

    English

    Adjective

    (head)
  • Cut or dug into the surface as by etching.
  • * '>citation

    • Verb

    (head)
  • (etch)