phatic (adj) - of or pertaining to speech or interaction used to build connection or community rather than to share information [fat-ik]
BREAKDOWN: FAT- (to speak or acknowledge) + -IC (pertaining to)
“Every social order, however small or transient, develops its own ‘idiom,’ because any exchange of signs involves the respective participants taking up the words, phrases and expressions of the others for both phatic purposes and as a ‘multiplier’ of meanings—if I repeat what another has said with slight changes in wording and tone, I not only say what I have said, but create a complex relationship between what I have said and what the other has said (and whatever others he was responding to have said—and left unsaid), a relationship that remains largely tacit but all the more difficult to shake or exit for that very reason.” —Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges
[Fun Word Friday introduces more advanced or technical words that are based on word roots. Yes, these words may still be tested on standardized exams. Try to use this word in a sentence today!]