A Torch Is a Flashlight in America and a Flame in Britain
A torch is a portable light. The two countries mean different objects, and Olympic usage keeps the older sense.
A torch is a portable light. Which kind depends on where you are: in Britain a torch is a battery-powered flashlight, while in America it means a burning brand. The Olympic torch is a flame everywhere, which is why the older sense survives internationally even where the everyday word has moved on. *Carry a torch for someone* means to keep loving them without return, from the image of a light kept burning.
- A flashlight (UK). *Shine the torch.*
- A burning brand (US). *An Olympic torch.*
- To set on fire. *They torched the car.*
- Carry a torch — to love unrequitedly. *Carry a torch.*
- Latin — *torqua*, twisted. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | torch | A torch. |
| Plural | torches | Torches. |
| Verb | torch | Torched it. |
| American | flashlight | A flashlight. |
| Compound | blowtorch | A blowtorch. |
- Pass me the torch.British.
- The Olympic torch was lit in Olympia.Ceremony.
- He still carries a torch for her.Idiom.
Why the word means twisted
- Latin *torquere* means to twist
- Early torches were twisted fibres soaked in pitch or wax
- Torque — a twisting force, from the same root
- Torment — from a twisting instrument of torture
- Torch kept the name long after the twisting stopped
Old French *torche*, from Vulgar Latin *torca*, from Latin *torquere*, to twist, from the twisted fibres of early torches.
Is a torch a flashlight?
In British English yes. In American English a torch is a burning brand and the battery-powered one is a flashlight.
Why does torch mean twisted?
Early torches were made of twisted fibres soaked in pitch, and Latin torquere means to twist.