language
Plurallanguages
Plurallanguages
- 1A system of words and grammar that a group of people use to communicate with each other.
Like a set of building blocks that a whole group agrees to put together the same way.
French is a language spoken by millions of people.
Children learn their first language by listening to adults.
Similartongue
- 2The words someone chooses and the way they say or write something.
The language in the contract was hard to understand.
She admired the plain language of the poem.
UsageSay plain language or simple language.
Similarwording, phrasing, phraseology, diction, style
- 3A set of words and rules used to write computer programs.
Like a recipe that tells the computer exactly what to do, step by step.
Python is an easy language for beginners to learn.
He wrote the whole game in a language called C.
Note
- 4The human power to use words to share ideas with others.
Like a key that lets you open up your thoughts and share them with others.
Language sets humans apart from other animals.
By age three, most children have developed language.
Similarspeech
Note
- 5Any way of getting meaning across, the way words do but without actual words.
Like how a smile can say 'hello' without any words.
The language of flowers can say what words cannot.
Music is a language that everyone can feel.
- 6
- 7The special words used by one group of people or in one job.
Like a secret club where the members use words only they understand.
Doctors use a language full of words most patients don't know.
Teenagers often have their own language that adults find confusing.
UsageSay legal language or the language of doctors.
Similarjargon, terminology, vocabulary, parlance, idiom
Note
Less common meanings
- 8Something you say to tell someone to stop swearing.
Like saying 'Hey!' to stop someone from doing something wrong.
"Language!" she snapped when her son let the word slip.
He swore loudly, and his mother shot back, "Language!"
Note
- 9The sounds, signs or signals that animals, and perhaps plants, use to communicate.
Like a phone call between animals, using sounds instead of words.
Bees use a kind of language made of dances.
Scientists study the language of whales and dolphins.
- 10To express your thoughts by putting them into words.
Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they have a double sense.
1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of BritainHere, languaged means put into words or expressed. - 11A flat plate inside or below the pipe of an organ.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
It came through Old French into Middle English, from Latin lingua meaning 'tongue' or 'speech'.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Language came through Old French into Middle English, ultimately from Latin lingua. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin lingua means 'tongue' or 'speech'. en.wiktionary.org