language
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: lăngʹgwĭj
ipa: /ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ/
ipa: [ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]
note: see /æ/ raising
ipa: [ˈle(ɪ)ŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]
ipa: [ˈlæːŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]
ipa: [ˈlaŋɡwed͡ʒ]
ipa: [ˈlaŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]
ipa: [ˈlaŋɡwed͡ʒ]
note: Indic
ipa: /laŋɡˈweːd͡ʒ/
Forms: form: languages
Etymology: From Middle English langage, language, from Old French language, from Vulgar Latin *linguāticum, from Latin lingua (“tongue, speech, language”), from Old Latin dingua (“tongue”), from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (“tongue, speech, language”). Doublet of langaj. Displaced native Old English ġeþēode.
Senses: examples: text: The English and German languages are both members of the West Germanic language family.
text: Deaf and mute people communicate using sign language.
text: Hence the natural language of the mute is, in schools of this class, suppressed as soon and as far as possible, and its existence as a language, capable of being made the reliable and precise vehicle for the widest range of thought, is ignored.
ref: 1983, History of the College for the Deaf, 1857-1907, →ISBN, page 240:
text: No language could express his rage and despair.
ref: 1900, William Beckford, The History of the Caliph Vathek, page 50:
text: Mr. Darko, generally acknowledged to be the last surviving member of the Ofo Tribe, was also the last remaining speaker of the tribe's language.
ref: 2000, Geary Hobson, The Last of the Ofos, →ISBN, page 113:
text: Many of us have entertained the idea of expanding our horizons. Learning a foreign language is an obvious option.
It’s one that I would personally endorse: My individual circumstances were such that, by the age of 12, I could speak German, Greek and English, so languages became my passion and my hobby.
ref: 2021 April 25, John Malathronas, “Which languages are easiest – and most difficult – for native English speakers to learn?”, in CNN:
text: Muksin specifically mentioned 11 extinct indigenous languages, such as Tandia and Mawes in West Papua and Papua, along with Kajeli, Piru, Moksela, Palumata, Ternateno, Hukumina, Hoti, Serua, and Nila in different areas of Maluku.
ref: 2024 March 8, Antara, “11 Indigenous Languages Declared Extinct: Education Ministry”, in Jakarta Globe:
glosses: A body of words, and set of methods of combining them (called a grammar), understood by a community and used as a form of communication.
examples: text: the gift of language
text: It is wholly out of the power of language to convey any idea of the blissful enjoyment of obtaining water, after an almost total want of it, during eight and forty hours, in the scorching regions of an Arabian desert, in the month of July.
ref: 1805 December, Julius Griffiths, “A Journey across the Desert”, in The Monthly Mirror, page 362:
text: Language is the articulation of the limited to express the unlimited; it is the ultimate mystery which is the image of God, for in breaking up infinity to create finite beings, God has found a way to let the limited being yet be a reflection of His unlimited Being.
ref: 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 15:
glosses: The ability to communicate using words.
examples: text: legal language; the language of chemistry
text: Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
ref: 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
text: And ‘blubbing’ . . . Blubbing went out with ‘decent’ and ‘ripping’. Mind you, not a bad new language to start up. 1920s schoolboy slang could be due for a revival.
ref: 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section II, page 24:
glosses: A sublanguage: the slang of a particular community or jargon of a particular specialist field.
examples: text: body language; the language of the eyes
text: A tale about themselves [is] told by people with help from the universal languages of their eyes, their hands, and even their shirting feet.
ref: 2001, Eugene C. Kennedy, Sara C. Charles, On Becoming a Counselor, →ISBN:
text: Birding had become like that for me. It is a language that, once learnt, I have been unable to unlearn.
ref: 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 231:
glosses: The expression of thought (the communication of meaning) in a specified way; that which communicates something, as language does.
examples: text: A more likely hypothesis was that the attacked leaves were transmitting some airborne chemical signal to sound the alarm, rather like insects sending out warnings […] But this is the first time that a plant-to-plant language has been detected.
ref: 1983, The Listener, volume 110, page 14:
text: Prairie dogs use their language to refer to real dangers in the real world, so it definitely has meaning.
ref: 2009, Animals in Translation, page 274:
glosses: A body of sounds, signs or signals by which animals communicate, and by which plants are sometimes also thought to communicate.
examples: text: In fact pointers are called references in these languages to distinguish them from pointers in languages like C and C++.
ref: 2015, Kent D. Lee, Foundations of Programming Languages, →ISBN, page 94:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A computer language; a machine language.
examples: text: Their language simple, as their manners meek, […]
ref: 1782, William Cowper, Hope:
glosses: A manner of expression.
examples: text: The language used in the law does not permit any other interpretation.
text: The language he used to talk to me was obscene.
glosses: The particular words used in a speech or a passage of text.
examples: text: "Where the hell is Horace?" ¶ "There he is. He's coming. You shouldn't use language."
ref: 1978, James Carroll, Mortal Friends, →ISBN, page 500:
glosses: Profanity.
Synonyms: sense: vocabulary of a particular field
word: jargon
topics: language
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
computer
computing
engineering
mathematics
physical-sciences
natural-sciences
word: computer language
topics: language
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
computer
computing
engineering
mathematics
physical-sciences
natural-sciences
word: programming language
topics: language
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
computer
computing
engineering
mathematics
physical-sciences
natural-sciences
word: machine language
sense: particular words used
word: wording
word: language
word: leid
word: lingo
word: speech
word: tongue
Hypernyms: medium
Hyponyms: sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: artificial language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: auxiliary language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: bad language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: body language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: common language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: computer
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: computing language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: constructed language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: corpus language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: dead language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: endangered language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: engineered language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: everyday language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: experimental language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: extinct language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: foreign language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: formal language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: foul language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: global language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: hardware description language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: indigenous language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: international language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: link language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: literary language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: living language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: logical language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: machine language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: main language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: mathematical language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: meta language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: metaphorical language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: micronational language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: minority language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: modern language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: multi-paradigm language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: natural language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: object language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: pattern language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: philosophical language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: phonetic language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: planned language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: principal language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: private language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: programming language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: scripting language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: secular language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: sign language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: spoken language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: standard language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: subject-oriented language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: target language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: universal language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: vehicular language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: vernacular language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: working language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (kinds)
word: world language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: active-stative language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: agglutinative language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: analytic language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: direct-inverse language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: E-language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: ergative-absolutive language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: I-language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: isolating language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: nominative-accusative language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: oligosynthetic language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: OV language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: polysynthetic language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: synthetic language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: tripartite language
sense: linguistics: Hyponyms of language (types)
word: VO language
word: creole
word: pidgin
word: lingua franca
word: heritage language
word: computer language
word: birthtongue
word: first language
word: L1
word: mother language
word: mother tongue
word: native language
word: native tongue
word: vernacular
word: vulgate
word: father tongue
word: L2
word: second language
word: Sino-Tibetan language
word: Indo-European language
word: Romance language
word: Slavic language
word: Germanic language
word: Celtic language
word: fusional language
word: inflected language
Meronyms: word: acrolect
word: argot
word: basilect
word: cant
word: chronolect
word: cryptolect
word: dialect
word: ecolect
word: ethnolect
word: idiolect
word: idiom
word: isolect
word: jargon
word: lect
word: matrilect
word: mesilect
word: mesolect
word: mimolect
word: paralect
word: parlance
word: patois
word: patrilect
word: similect
word: slang
word: sociolect
word: topolect
word: xenolect
word: expression
word: grammar
word: phrase
word: sign
word: statement
word: symbol
word: term
word: vocabulary
word: word
word: wording
Derived terms: sense: some may be hyponyms
word: AB language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: abstract language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: A language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: a language is a dialect with an army and navy
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: altlang
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: antilanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: artlang
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: aspect-oriented language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: aspect-oriented programming language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: assembler language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: assembly language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Auslan
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: auxlang
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: bilanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: B language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: cache language model
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: camouflanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: child language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: C language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: class-based language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: classical language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: clean language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: colanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Community language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: community language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: conditional assembly language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: conlang
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: contact language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: context-free language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: counterlanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: cryptolanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: curly-brace language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: curly-braces language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: curly-bracket language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: cyberlanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: daughter language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: delegation language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: design language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: domain-specific language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Dyck language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: dynamic language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: e-language learning
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: engelang
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: English-language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: epilanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: equity language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: esoteric programming language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: expressive language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: first language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: German-language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: ghost language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: good language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: hand language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: heritage language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: high-level language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: home language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: imperative language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: indexing language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: interlanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: intermediate language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: international auxiliary language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Iranian language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Iranic language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: killer language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language-agnostic
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language analysis for the determination of origin
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language area
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language arts
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language assessment
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language assimilation
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language assistant
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language barrier
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language border
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language branch
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language change
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language code
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language contact
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language continuum
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language cop
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language cops
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language death
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language delay
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language ecology
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language education
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language exchange
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language extinction
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language family
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language game
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languagehood
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language-independent
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language island
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language isolate
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language lab
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language laboratory
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language learner
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language learning
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languageless
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languagelike
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language model
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language nest
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language of education
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language of flowers
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language organ
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language-oriented
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language planning
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language police
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language pollution
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language processing
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language proficiency
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languager
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language replacement
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languagescape
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language school
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language script
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language server
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language shift
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language survey
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language swap
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language technology
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: language transfer
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languagey
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languaging
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languagism
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languagist
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languist
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: languoid
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: large language model
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: link-language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: lip language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: little language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: liturgical language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: loaded language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: logical language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: loglang
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: love language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: low-level language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: macrolanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: macro language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: markup language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: matrix language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: metalanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: mind one's language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: minilanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: mini-language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: mixed language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: moon language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: mother language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: multilanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: native language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: native-language identification
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: natlang
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: natural language processing
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: natural language understanding
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: nonlanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: null-subject language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: object-based language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: object-oriented language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: official language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Oïl language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: ordinary language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: ordinary language philosophy
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: pandanus language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: paralanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: parent language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: people-first language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Polish-language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: prelanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: private language argument
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: private language problem
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: private language thesis
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: pro-drop language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: proto-language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: prototype-based language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: prototype-based scripting language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: pseudolanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: query language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: receptive language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: reconstructed language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: regular language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: role-oriented language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Romance language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Scala
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: second language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: second-language acquisition
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: semilanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: sister language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: slanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: sleeping language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: small language model
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: source language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: speak someone's language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: speak the same language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: specific language impairment
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: spurious language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: statically-typed language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: static language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: statistical language acquisition
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: strong language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: style sheet language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Sydney language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: symbolic language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: systems language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: third language acquisition
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: trade language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: translanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Turkish-language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: twilight language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: unit of language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: unparliamentary language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: urlanguage
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: ur-language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: village sign language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: visual language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: visual programming language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: watch one's language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: Western Desert language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: whole language
sense: some may be hyponyms
word: wooden language
Related terms: word: langue
word: lingua
word: lingua franca
word: linguine
word: linguistics
word: tonguage
word: languoid