tongue

• tounge (misspelling, otherwise obsolete)
• tung (eye dialect, otherwise obsolete)
• tong, tonge, toong, toongue, toung, toungue, tunge (obsolete)

From Middle English tonge, tunge, tung, from Old English tunge, from Proto-West Germanic *tungā, from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ (“tongue”) (compare West Frisian tonge, Dutch tong, Luxembourgish Zong, German Zunge, Yiddish צונג (tsung), Danish tunge, Norwegian Bokmål tunge, Swedish tunga, 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 unlikewise etymological.

• (Received Pronunciation, US, Canada) IPA^(key): /tʌŋ/
• (UK, Northern) IPA^(key): /tʊŋ/
• (UK, Manchester, Liverpool) IPA^(key): /tɒŋɡ/, /tʊŋɡ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋ

tongue (countable and uncountable, plural tongues)

2. 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.

   Synonyms: glossa, lingua

   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.:

     But lering and lurking here and there like ſpies,
     The devil tere their tunges and pike out their ies!

3. (countable, uncountable) Such an organ, as taken from animals and used for food (especially from cows).

   cold tongue with mustard

   • 1902, E. Nesbit, chapter 4, in Five Children and It‎, New York: Dodd, Mead, published 1905, page 136:

     However you eat them, tongue and chicken and new bread are very good things, and no one minds being sprinkled a little with soda-water on a really fine hot day.

4. 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.
5. (metonymic) A language.

   Synonyms: idiom, language, lingo (colloquial)

   He was speaking in his native tongue.

   • 1591, Ed Sp, “The Ruines of Time”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. , London: William Ponsonbie, , →OCLC:

     that great Towre, which is so much renownd
     For tongues confusion in holie writ,

   • 1726 October 28, , Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. , London: Benj Motte, , →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to IV), page :

     When I pointed to any thing, she told me the Name of it in her own Tongue, so that in a few Days I was able to call for whatever I had a mind to.

   • 1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, chapter 7, in The Return of the Native  In Three Volumes">…], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., , published 1878, →OCLC:

     To dwell on a heath without studying its meanings was like wedding a foreigner without learning his tongue.

   • 1915, W Somerset Maugham, chapter LXXXVI, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H Doran Company, →OCLC:

     “You should read Spanish,” he said. “It is a noble tongue. ”

   • 1956, Cyril Hume, Forbidden Planet, spoken by Robby the Robot:

     If you do not speak English I am at your disposal with 187 other languages along with their various dialects and sub-tongues.

   • 1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 23, in Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959, page 200:

     Many of them come from distant places and although they speak your tongue they are ignorant of your customs.

   • 2002, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex‎, New York: Picador, Book 2, p. 99:

     My grandfather, accustomed to the multifarious conjugations of ancient Greek verbs, had found English, for all its incoherence, a relatively simple tongue to master.

6. (obsolete, synecdochically) The speakers of a language, collectively.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Isaiah 66:18:

     I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

7. (obsolete) A voice, (the distinctive sound of a person's speech); accent (distinctive manner of pronouncing a language).
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty,
     Albeit I’ll swear that I do know your tongue.

   • 1748, , chapter 21, in The Adventures of Roderick Random.  In Two Volumes.">…], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: ">…] for J Osborn , →OCLC, page 173:

     one of , whom by his tongue I knew to be a Scotchman, lamented most piteously

8. A manner of speaking, often habitually.
   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.:

     Al maters wel pondred and wel to be regarded,
     How ſhuld a fals lying tung then be rewarded?

   • 1715, Daniel Defoe, The Family Instructor‎, London: Eman. Matthews, Volume 1, Part 2, Dialogue 2, p. 211:

     his wicked way of Living, his prophane Tongue, and his Contempt of Religion, had made him not very well receiv’d

   • 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Death of the Red Fox”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: , London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 162:

     "Well," said he, at last, "your tongue is bold; but I am no unfriend to plainness "

   • 1935, Dorothy L. Sayers, chapter 8, in Gaudy Night‎, London: New English Library, published 1970, page 205:

     I’m afraid I’ve inherited my uncle’s tongue and my mother’s want of tact.

   • 1952, John Steinbeck, East of Eden‎, London: Heinemann, Part 1, Chapter 2, p. 8:

     Samuel had no equal for soothing hysteria and bringing quiet to a frightened child. It was the sweetness of his tongue and the tenderness of his soul.

   • 1972, Hortense Calisher, Herself‎, New York: Arbor House, Part 4, p. 369:

     Frank Marcus’ Sister George, technically a quite ordinary comedy in the old style was remarkable for the frank tongue of its Lesbians

9. (synecdochically, usually in the plural) A person speaking in a specified manner.
   • 1860, George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss‎, Book 7, Chapter 3:

     I know that we must keep apart for a long while; cruel tongues would force us apart, if nothing else did.

   • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter 30, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:

     it was obvious to his listeners that Pittypat, in his mind, was still a plump and charming miss of sixteen who must be sheltered against evil tongues.

   • 2007, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wizard of the Crow, New York: Knopf Doubleday, Book 4, p. 592,

     the drunk, who had been a permanent fixture in that bar, changed location and thereafter moved from bar to bar, saying to inquisitive tongues, Too long a stay in one seat tires the buttocks.

10. The power of articulate utterance; speech generally.
    • 1717, “The Story of Pygmalion and the Statue”, in John Dryden, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphoses in fifteen books‎, London: Jacob Tonson, page 344:

      Parrots imitating Human Tongue

11. (obsolete) Discourse; the fluency of speech or expression.
12. (obsolete, uncountable) Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
    • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      fellows, soldiers, friends,
      Better consider what you have to do
      Than I, that have not well the gift of tongue,
      Can lift your blood up with persuasion.

    • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: , London: R Sare,  Took, M Gillyflower, A & J Churchil, and J Hindmarsh.">…], →OCLC:

      Much Tongue, and much Judgment seldom go together, for Talking and Thinking are Two Quite Differing Faculties,

    • 1876, George Eliot , chapter XXXI, in Daniel Deronda, volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book IV (Gwendolen Gets Her Choice), page 275:

      “ this Mr. Grandcourt has wonderful little tongue. Everything must be done dummy-like without his ordering.”
      “Then he’s the more whip, I doubt,” said Mrs. Girdle. “She’s got tongue enough, I warrant her ”

13. (obsolete) Honorable discourse; eulogy.
    • c. 1607–1621, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Tragedy of Thierry and Theodoret”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1679, →OCLC, Act V, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

      She was born noble; let that title find her
      A private grave, but neither tongue nor honour!

14. (religion, often in the plural) Glossolalia.

    Synonym: speaking in tongues

    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 13:8:

      Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

15. 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).
    • 1990, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 3, in Age of Iron‎, New York: Random House, page 96:

      I caught a glimpse of a brown boot, the tongue flapping, the sole tied on with string.

    • 2006, Sarah Waters, chapter 2, in The Night Watch‎, London: Virago, page 53:

      her low-heeled shoes had flat fringed tongues to them—the kind of shoes you expected to see on a golf-course, or a Scottish highland, somewhere expensively hearty like that.

17. 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.
18. A projection, or slender appendage or fixture.

    the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance

19. A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake.
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 12:

      On one side was a coral reef; on the other a low tongue of land, covered with mangrove thickets that grew out into the water.

21. 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.
    • 1986, Hortense Calisher, The Bobby-Soxer‎, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 91:

      Far to the right, where the main pile sloped out, his cart reared tongue upward, like a plow.

22. The clapper of a bell.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:

    • 1940, Richard Wright, Native Son‎, London: Jonathan Cape, Book 2, p. 156:

      the bell clanged so loud that he could hear the iron tongue clapping against the metal sides each time it swung to and fro

23. (figuratively) An individual point of flame from a fire.
    • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam‎, London: C. and J. Ollier, Canto 3, stanza 13, p. 63:

      Then up a steep and dark and narrow stair
      We wound, until the torches’ fiery tongue
      Amid the gushing day beamless and pallid hung.

    • 1895, H. G. Wells, chapter XI, in The Time Machine:

      Now, in this decadent age the art of fire-making had been altogether forgotten on the earth. The red tongues that went licking up my heap of wood were an altogether new and strange thing to Weena.

24. A small sole (type of fish).
25. (nautical) 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.
26. (music) A reed.
27. (geology) A division of formation; A layer or member of a formation that pinches out in one direction.

• Australian Kriol: tang
• Bislama: tang
• Sranan Tongo: tongo
• Tok Pisin: tang
• Torres Strait Creole: tang

• 👅

tongue (third-person singular simple present tongues, present participle tonguing, simple past and past participle tongued)

1. (music, 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).

   Playing wind instruments involves tonguing on the reed or mouthpiece.

2. (slang, vulgar, transitive) To manipulate with the tongue, as in kissing or oral sex; to perform cunnilingus or anilingus on.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, , →OCLC:

     Hot I tongued her. She kissed me. I was kissed. All yielding she tossed my hair. Kissed, she kissed me.

3. To protrude in relatively long, narrow sections.

   a soil horizon that tongues into clay

4. To join by means of a tongue and groove.

   to tongue boards together

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To talk; to prate.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To speak; to utter.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     ’Tis still a dream, or else such stuff as madmen
     Tongue and brain not;

7. (transitive, obsolete) To chide; to scold.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     How might she tongue me!

• gloss-
• glossal
• lingual
• linguiform
• linguo-

• tongue on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• tounge