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tongue

TUNG/tʌŋ/

Pluraltongues

Verbtongues, tonguing, tongued

30 meanings of tongue

Practice

  1. 1
    taste organnouncountable
    The flexible muscular organ in the mouth, used to move food around, to taste, and to shape the sounds of speech.

    She clicked her tongue in disapproval.

    A cat's tongue feels rough because of tiny backward-facing spines.

    UsageSpelled with -ongue (not incorrect: tounge). It rhymes with young.

    Note

    Because the organ shapes speech, English has long let it stand for speech itself. John Skelton's poem against "venomous tongues" means slanderers, not muscles, and the same move gives the "language" meaning.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The tongue shapes speech sounds. en.wikipedia.org
    • The use of tongue for language is an ancient metonymic extension of the bodily sense, already present in Old English. en.wiktionary.org
    • John Skelton wrote a poem against venomous tongues, meaning malicious or slanderous speakers. gutenberg.org
    • The language meaning of tongue is metonymic. en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2
    nounmetonymicallycountable
    A language, especially one regarded as belonging to a particular people or nation.

    The poet wrote in his native tongue rather than the colonial language.

    Travelers often struggle to learn the local tongue.

    UsageMostly in native tongue or mother tongue; in everyday talk, language is more usual.

    Similarlanguage, lingo, idiom

    Note

    Spenser uses the plural for the confusion of tongues at Babel. Thomas Hardy, in The Return of the Native (1878), likens living on a heath without studying it to marrying a foreigner without learning his tongue.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Edmund Spenser uses plural tongues for the biblical confusion of languages at Babel, in The Ruines of Time. gutenberg.org
    • Thomas Hardy wrote The Return of the Native, first published in 1878; the original Smith, Elder edition is dated 1878. en.wikisource.org
    • The novel's narrator compares living on a heath without studying it to marrying a foreigner without learning his language. en.wikisource.org
  3. 3
    organ meatnoununcountable
    Meat taken from the tongue of an animal, especially a cow, used as food.

    The butcher recommended braising the tongue slowly for several hours.

    Sliced tongue is a traditional sandwich filling in many delis.

    UsageFor the food, usually no article: cold tongue, a tongue sandwich. A tongue is the whole cut.

    Note

    You get cold tongue with mustard, or the "tongue and chicken and new bread" of a hot-day picnic in E. Nesbit's Five Children and It (1902).

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

  4. 4
    shoe flapnouncountable
    In a shoe, the flap of material lying between the laces and the foot.

    A well-cushioned tongue keeps the laces from digging into your foot.

    The hiking boot's tongue was stitched to keep out debris.

  5. 5
    nouncountable
    A manner of speaking, often a habitual one.

    A bitter tongue had cost him more than one friendship.

    She greeted the guests with the honeyed tongue of a practiced host.

    UsageUsually with an adjective or possessive: a sharp tongue, a bitter tongue, his tongue.

    Note

    Character judged by speech. Dorothy L. Sayers shows the habitual side in Gaudy Night (1935) with "I've inherited my uncle's tongue," as if sharpness of speech ran in families.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Dorothy L. Sayers wrote Gaudy Night. en.wikipedia.org
    • Gaudy Night was first published in 1935. fadedpage.com
    • “I've inherited my uncle's tongue” occurs verbatim within a longer sentence spoken by Lord Saint-George to Harriet Vane. fadedpage.com
  6. 6
    nouncountable or uncountable
    The power of speech, or the act or fluency of speaking.

    After a second glass of wine began to loosen his tongue, he told us stories about his years at sea.

    Only with effort did she recover her tongue after the shocking news.

    UsageMostly in set phrases: hold your tongue, find your tongue, loosen someone's tongue.

    Similarvoice, speech

    Note

    Speech as a faculty rather than a language. Dryden's version of Ovid's Pygmalion story (1700) has parrots "imitating Human Tongue," with no article, because no particular language is meant.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Dryden translated Ovid's Pygmalion story. en.wikisource.org
    • Dryden's version was first published in 1700, in Fables Ancient and Modern. en.wikisource.org
    • The first edition prints "imitating Humane Tongue". "Human" modernizes its spelling. en.wikisource.org
    • The example uses tongue without an article to mean speech generally. en.wiktionary.org
  7. 7
    worship speechnounusually plural
    Speech uttered in religious worship and believed to be divinely inspired, either in a language the speaker never learned or in sounds that form no known language.

    The congregation erupted in tongues during the revival.

    He believed the unknown tongue he spoke was a heavenly gift.

    UsageMost often in speak in tongues or the gift of tongues.

    Similarglossolalia

    Note

    Glossolalia is the technical name for the same practice. Its best-known English source is the King James Bible of 1611, which sets tongues beside prophecies and knowledge as gifts that will pass: "whether there be tongues, they shall cease."

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Glossolalia names the practice called speaking in tongues. en.wikipedia.org
    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
    • The KJV places tongues alongside prophecies and knowledge as things that will pass, and contains the quoted words. en.wikisource.org
  8. 8
    lick (sexual)verbslangvulgartransitive
    To lick, probe or caress someone with the tongue during kissing or oral sex.

    She tongued his lips slowly.

    The two would tongue each other passionately.

    Similarlick

    Note

    It is older in print than it sounds: James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) already has "Hot I tongued her," and T. C. Boyle and Adriana Herrera carry it into later fiction.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

  9. 9
    sticking-out partnouncountable
    A narrow part that sticks out from a larger object, such as the pin of a buckle or the edge of a board that fits into a groove.

    He pulled the belt tighter than usual and slid the buckle's tongue through the last hole.

    A long tongue of rock jutted from the cliff over the valley.

    Similarprojection

  10. 10
    cart polenouncountable
    The pole at the front of a cart, trailer, or plow by which animals or a vehicle pull it.

    He lifted the heavy tongue of the trailer to attach it to the hitch.

    The cart's tongue had splintered, so the team could not be yoked to it.

    Similarpole, shaft, drawbar

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of tongue apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Middle English tonge, from Old English tunge, from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root. It is related to German Zunge, Dutch tong, and Latin lingua, and is a doublet of langue and lingua. The 'ue' spelling appeared in late Middle English, apparently to stop the word being read with a soft g.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts