tongue
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /tʌŋ/
ipa: /tʊŋ/
note: UK, Manchester, Liverpool
ipa: /tɒŋɡ/
note: UK, Manchester, Liverpool
ipa: /tʊŋɡ/
rhymes: -ʌŋ
Forms: form: tongues
form: tounge
form: tung
form: tong
form: tonge
form: toong
form: toongue
form: toung
form: toungue
form: tunge
Etymology: 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.
Senses: examples: text: But lering and lurking here and there like ſpies,
ref: c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.
roman: The devil tere their tunges and pike out their ies!
synonyms: glossa
lingua
glosses: 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.
examples: text: cold tongue with mustard
text: 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.
ref: 1902, E. Nesbit, chapter 4, in Five Children and It, New York: Dodd, Mead, published 1905, page 136:
glosses: Such an organ, as taken from animals and used for food (especially from cows).
glosses: 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.
examples: text: He was speaking in his native tongue.
text: […] that great Towre, which is so much renownd
For tongues confusion in holie writ,
ref: 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “The Ruines of Time”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to IV), page [178]:
text: To dwell on a heath without studying its meanings was like wedding a foreigner without learning his tongue.
ref: 1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, chapter 7, in The Return of the Native […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC:
text: “You should read Spanish,” he said. “It is a noble tongue. […]”
ref: 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LXXXVI, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:
text: If you do not speak English I am at your disposal with 187 other languages along with their various dialects and sub-tongues.
ref: 1956, Cyril Hume, Forbidden Planet, spoken by Robby the Robot:
text: Many of them come from distant places and although they speak your tongue they are ignorant of your customs.
ref: 1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 23, in Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959, page 200:
text: My grandfather, accustomed to the multifarious conjugations of ancient Greek verbs, had found English, for all its incoherence, a relatively simple tongue to master.
ref: 2002, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex, New York: Picador, Book 2, p. 99:
synonyms: word: idiom
word: language
word: lingo
glosses: A language.
examples: text: I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 66:18:
glosses: The speakers of a language, collectively.
examples: text: Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty,
Albeit I’ll swear that I do know your tongue.
ref: 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]:
text: [...] one of [the prisoners], whom by his tongue I knew to be a Scotchman, lamented most piteously [...]
ref: 1748, [Tobias Smollett], chapter 21, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 173:
glosses: A voice, (the distinctive sound of a person's speech); accent (distinctive manner of pronouncing a language).
examples: text: Al maters wel pondred and wel to be regarded,
How ſhuld a fals lying tung then be rewarded?
ref: c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.
text: [...] his wicked way of Living, his prophane Tongue, and his Contempt of Religion, had made him not very well receiv’d [...]
ref: 1715, Daniel Defoe, The Family Instructor, London: Eman. Matthews, Volume 1, Part 2, Dialogue 2, p. 211:
text: "Well," said he, at last, "your tongue is bold; but I am no unfriend to plainness [...]"
ref: 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:
text: I’m afraid I’ve inherited my uncle’s tongue and my mother’s want of tact.
ref: 1935, Dorothy L. Sayers, chapter 8, in Gaudy Night, London: New English Library, published 1970, page 205:
text: 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.
ref: 1952, John Steinbeck, East of Eden, London: Heinemann, Part 1, Chapter 2, p. 8:
text: [...] Frank Marcus’ Sister George, technically a quite ordinary comedy in the old style [...] was remarkable [...] for the frank tongue of its Lesbians [...]
ref: 1972, Hortense Calisher, Herself, New York: Arbor House, Part 4, p. 369:
glosses: A manner of speaking, often habitually.
examples: text: I know that we must keep apart for a long while; cruel tongues would force us apart, if nothing else did.
ref: 1860, George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, Book 7, Chapter 3:
text: […] 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
glosses: A person speaking in a specified manner.
examples: text: Parrots imitating Human Tongue
ref: 1717, “The Story of Pygmalion and the Statue”, in John Dryden, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphoses in fifteen books, London: Jacob Tonson, page 344:
glosses: The power of articulate utterance; speech generally.
glosses: Discourse; the fluency of speech or expression.
examples: text: [...] 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.
ref: 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
text: Much Tongue, and much Judgment seldom go together, for Talking and Thinking are Two Quite Differing Faculties,
ref: 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[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:
text: “[...] 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 [...]”
ref: 1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXXI, in Daniel Deronda, volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book IV (Gwendolen Gets Her Choice), page 275:
glosses: Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
examples: text: She was born noble; let that title find her
A private grave, but neither tongue nor honour!
ref: 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):
glosses: Honorable discourse; eulogy.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Corinthians 13:8:
topics: lifestyle
religion
synonyms: speaking in tongues
glosses: Glossolalia.
examples: text: I caught a glimpse of a brown boot, the tongue flapping, the sole tied on with string.
ref: 1990, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 3, in Age of Iron, New York: Random House, page 96:
text: [...] 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.
ref: 2006, Sarah Waters, chapter 2, in The Night Watch, London: Virago, page 53:
glosses: 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).
glosses: 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.
examples: text: the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance
glosses: A projection, or slender appendage or fixture.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 12:
glosses: A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake.
examples: text: Far to the right, where the main pile sloped out, his cart reared tongue upward, like a plow.
ref: 1986, Hortense Calisher, The Bobby-Soxer, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 91:
glosses: 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.
examples: text: The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:
ref: 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
text: [...] the bell clanged so loud that he could hear the iron tongue clapping against the metal sides each time it swung to and fro [...]
ref: 1940, Richard Wright, Native Son, London: Jonathan Cape, Book 2, p. 156:
glosses: The clapper of a bell.
examples: text: Then up a steep and dark and narrow stair
We wound, until the torches’ fiery tongue
Amid the gushing day beamless and pallid hung.
ref: 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam, London: C. and J. Ollier, Canto 3, stanza 13, p. 63:
text: 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.
ref: 1895, H. G. Wells, chapter XI, in The Time Machine:
glosses: An individual point of flame from a fire.
glosses: A small sole (type of fish).
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: 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.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A reed.
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: A division of formation; A layer or member of a formation that pinches out in one direction.
qualifier: flags
glosses: The middle protrusion of a triple-tailed flag.
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