tongue

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech.
2. (countable, uncountable) Such an organ, as taken from animals and used for food (especially from cows).
3. (countable, uncountable) Any similar organ, such as the lingual ribbon, or odontophore, of a mollusk; the proboscis of a moth or butterfly; or the lingua of an insect.
4. (countable, metonymically, uncountable) A language.
5. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) The speakers of a language, collectively.
6. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A voice, (the distinctive sound of a person's speech); accent (distinctive manner of pronouncing a language).
7. (countable, uncountable) A manner of speaking, often habitually.
8. (countable, plural-normally, uncountable) A person speaking in a specified manner.
9. (countable, uncountable) The power of articulate utterance; speech generally.
10. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Discourse; the fluency of speech or expression.
11. (obsolete, uncountable) Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
12. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Honorable discourse; eulogy.
13. (countable, in-plural, often, uncountable) Glossolalia.
14. (countable, uncountable) In a shoe, the flap of material that goes between the laces and the foot (so called because it resembles a tongue in the mouth).
15. (countable, uncountable) Any large or long physical protrusion on an automotive or machine part or any other part that fits into a long groove on another part.
16. (countable, uncountable) A projection, or slender appendage or fixture.
17. (countable, uncountable) A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake.
18. (countable, uncountable) The pole of a towed or drawn vehicle or farm implement (e.g., trailer, cart, plow, harrow), by which it is pulled; for example, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.
19. (countable, uncountable) The clapper of a bell.
20. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) An individual point of flame from a fire.
21. (countable, uncountable) A small sole (type of fish).
22. (countable, uncountable) A short piece of rope spliced into the upper part of standing backstays, etc.; also, the upper main piece of a mast composed of several pieces.
23. (countable, uncountable) A reed.
24. (countable, uncountable) A division of formation; A layer or member of a formation that pinches out in one direction.
25. (countable, uncountable) The middle protrusion of a triple-tailed flag.

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) On a wind instrument, to articulate a note by starting the air with a tap of the tongue, as though by speaking a 'd' or 't' sound (alveolar plosive).
2. (transitive) To manipulate with the tongue.
3. (slang, transitive, vulgar) To manipulate with the tongue.
4. To protrude in relatively long, narrow sections.
5. To join by means of a tongue and groove.
6. (intransitive, obsolete) To talk; to prate.
7. (obsolete, transitive) To speak; to utter.
8. (obsolete, transitive) To chide; to scold.

Synonyms

language

clapper

🎬

speech

glossa

lingua

nose

👃

voice

natural language

eye

👁️

knife

🔪

ear

👂

skin

jet

namely

spit

words

word

parlance

ledge

ligule

lingo

lip

lug

mane

mouth

mouth disease

nappe

of

offshoot

penis

pin

plaice

pole

projection

proud

quarreling

quarrelling

rabbet

reed

salience

sally

senses

sick

🤢

snap

spout

spur

sting

string

🪢

talk

🗣️

talking

Translations

langue

👅

lengua

👅

lingua

👅

Zunge

👅

língua

👅

tong

👅

γλώσσα

dil

llengua

👅

lingua

👅

ziman

Sprache

taal

لسان

👅

Pronounced as (IPA)

/tʌŋ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: tonge

Inherited from Old English: tunge

Cognate with Western Frisian: tonge

Cognate with Dutch: tong

Cognate with Luxembourgish: Zong

Cognate with German: Zunge

Cognate with Yiddish: צונג

Cognate with Danish: tunge

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål: tunge

Cognate with Swedish: tunga

Cognate with Gothic: 𐍄𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍉

Cognate with Old Irish: tengae

Cognate with Latin: lingua

Cognate with Tokharian A: käntu

Cognate with Tokharian B: kantwo

Cognate with Lithuanian: liežùvis

Cognate with Russian: язык

Cognate with Polish: język

Cognate with Classical Armenian: լեզու

Cognate with Avestan: 𐬵𐬌𐬰𐬎𐬎𐬁

Cognate with Zaza: Zon

Cognate with Ashkun: žū

Cognate with Kati: dić

Cognate with Sanskrit: जिह्वा

In summary

From Middle English tonge, tunge, tung, from Old English tunge, from Proto-West Germanic *tungā, from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ (“tongue”) (compare Scots tung (“tongue”), West Frisian tonge (“tongue”), Saterland Frisian Tunge (“tongue”), Cimbrian zung (“tongue”), Dutch tong (“tongue”), German Zunge (“tongue; language”), Luxembourgish Zong (“tongue”), Vilamovian cung (“tongue”), Yiddish צונג (tsung, “tongue”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk tunge (“tongue; language, speech”), Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish tunga (“tongue; language, speech”), Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍉 (tuggō)), from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s. Cognate with Old Irish tengae, Latin lingua, Tocharian A käntu, Tocharian B kantwo, Lithuanian liežùvis, Russian язык (jazyk), Polish język, Old Armenian լեզու (lezu), Avestan 𐬵𐬌𐬰𐬎𐬎𐬁 (hizuuā), Persian زبان (zabân), Ashkun žū, Kamkata-viri dić, diz, Prasuni luzuk, Sanskrit जिह्वा (jihvā́). Doublet of language and lingua.
It has been noted by many over the centuries that the word's spelling, were it true to pronunciation or etymology, would be tung (which is indeed a rare alternative spelling). The spelling with -ue at the end came about in the late Middle English period, seemingly to keep the word from being misread with a soft g (that is, /dʒ/) since -e was still needed to show the word-final vowel that has now been lost. The use of u to harden g is adopted from the Romance spelling principle, with one example indeed being the French cognate langue (“tongue”), whose u is however etymological.