tongue

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[edit] English

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Picture of a human tongue.

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English tonge, tunge, tung, from Old English tunge, from Proto-Germanic *tungōn (“tongue”) (compare Dutch tong, German Zunge, Swedish tunga), from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (compare Irish teanga, Latin lingua, Tocharian A/B känt/kantwo, Lithuanian liežùvis, Polish język 'language, people', Armenian լեզու (lezu), Sanskrit जिह्वा (jihvā́)).

[edit] Alternative forms

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

tongue (plural tongues)

  1. 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.
  2. A language.
    He was speaking in his native tongue.
  3. (religion, often in the plural) Glossolalia.
  4. 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.
  5. Any large or long physical protrusion on an automotive, a machine part or any other part that fits into a long groove on another part.
  6. (figuratively) An individual point of flame from a fire.
    • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter XI
      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.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Translations

organ
language — see language
flap in a shoe

[edit] Verb

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

  1. (music) 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).
  2. (obsolete) To talk; to prate.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
  3. (slang) to kiss involving the touching of both tongues, and/or licking.
  4. To manipulate with the tongue.
    Oral sex involves tonguing of the genitals.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Related terms

[edit] Anagrams

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