To perceive by touch; to experience an emotion or sensation.
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Old Englishbefore 900 CEwell-attested
From OldEnglish 'fēlan' (to touch, to perceive by touch, to have sensation), from Proto-Germanic *fōlijaną (to feel, to touch, to test by touch). The Proto-Germanic root connects to *fōlmō (palm of the hand), from PIE *pelH₂- (flat surface, palm of the hand) — the same root that gives Latin 'palma' (palm of the hand, palm tree) and Greek 'palámē' (palm). The bodily anchor of the word is the flat palm pressed
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The Old Norse cognate 'fólmi' means 'palm of the hand,' suggesting the original Proto-Germanic root was about touching with the flat of the hand — which is still the most natural gesture when we 'feel' a surface.
Modern English. Proto-Germanic *fōlijaną belongs to a family of Germanic sensation verbs that are poorly attested outside Germanic, suggesting this particular metaphorical mapping of touch-to-emotion may have been an innovation of the early Germanic speech community rather than an inherited PIE concept. Key roots: *fōlijaną (Proto-Germanic: "to feel, touch").