lingual

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s

Proto-Italic *dn̥ɣwā

Latin dingua

Latin lingua

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin linguālislbor.

English lingual

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin linguālis, from lingua (“the tongue; a language, speech”) +‎ -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to lingua +‎ -al. Doublet of lingualis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪŋ.ɡwəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American also) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪŋ.ɡju.əl/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋɡwəl, -ɪŋɡjuəl

Adjective

lingual (not comparable)

1. (anatomy, dentistry, relational) Related to, near, or on the side toward the tongue.

   Synonym: (rare) glossal

   1. (phonetics) Articulated with the tongue.
2. (linguistics, relational) Related to language or linguistics.

   Synonym: linguistic

Synonyms

• tonguely

Coordinate terms

dentistry location adjectivesedit

• anterior
• apical
• apicocoronal
• axial
• buccal
• buccoapical
• buccocervical
• buccogingival
• buccolabial
• buccolingual
• bucco-occlusal
• buccopalatal
• cervical
• coronal
• coronoapical
• distal
• distoapical
• distobuccal
• distocclusal
• distocervical
• distoclusal
• distocoronal
• distofacial
• distogingival
• distoincisal
• distolingual
• disto-occlusal
• distopalatal
• facial
• gingival
• incisal
• incisocervical
• inferior
• labial
• lingual
• linguobuccal
• linguo-occlusal
• mandibular
• maxillary
• mesial
• mesioapical
• mesiobuccal
• mesiocclusal
• mesiocervical
• mesioclusal
• mesiocoronal
• mesiodistal
• mesiofacial
• mesiogingival
• mesioincisal
• mesiolingual
• mesio-occlusal
• mesiopalatal
• occlusal
• palatal
• posterior
• proximal
• superior
• vestibular

Derived terms

• linguality
• lingualize
• lingually

Compound words

• alveolingual
• alveololingual
• ambilingual
• anterolingual
• apicolingual
• audiolingual
• axiolingual
• bilingual
• brevilingual
• buccolingual
• cervicolingual
• colingual
• collingual
• crosslingual
• decalingual
• dentilingual
• distolingual
• dorsolingual
• equilingual
• exolingual
• faciolingual
• fissilingual
• gingivolingual
• hemilingual
• heptalingual
• heterolingual
• hexalingual
• homolingual
• hyolingual
• interlingual
• intralingual
• labiolingual
• laterolingual
• matrilingual
• mediolingual
• mesiolingual
• mesolingual
• metalingual
• metrolingual
• midlingual
• monolingual
• multilingual
• nonalingual
• octolingual
• omnilingual
• orolingual
• panlingual
• paralingual
• pentalingual
• perilingual
• plurilingual
• polylingual
• posterolingual
• postlingual
• prelingual
• protolingual
• quadrilingual
• quinquelingual
• retrolingual
• semilingual
• sesquilingual
• sublingual
• tetralingual
• translingual
• trilingual
• unilingual
• ventrolingual
• vestibulolingual

Expressions

• lingual artery
• lingual bone
• lingual gyrus
• lingual nerve
• lingual tonsil

Translations

related to the tongue

• Arabic: لِسَانِيّ (lisāniyy)
• Belarusian: язы́чны (jazýčny), языко́вы (jazykóvy)
• Bulgarian: ези́чен (ezíčen)
• Catalan: lingual (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 舌的 (zh) (shé de)

• Czech: lingvální
• Esperanto: langa
• Finnish: kieli- (fi), kielen- (fi), linguaalinen (fi)
• French: lingual (fr)
• Galician: lingual (gl)
• German: lingual (de), Zungen- (de)
• Greek: γλωσσικός (el) (glossikós)
• Hebrew: לְשׁוֹנִי (l'shoní)
• Irish: teangach, teangúil
• Italian: linguale (it)
• Kashmiri: زیٚوؠ (zev')
• Latin: linguālis
• Macedonian: јазичен (jazičen)
• Polish: językowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: lingual (pt)
• Russian: язы́чный (ru) (jazýčnyj), лингва́льный (ru) (lingválʹnyj), языково́й (ru) (jazykovój)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јѐзичнӣ, јѐзичкӣ

  Latin: jèzičnī (sh), jèzičkī (sh)

• Slovak: jazykový
• Slovene: (medical) lingválen, jezíčen
• Spanish: lingual (es)
• Swedish: tung-, lingval
• Ukrainian: язико́вий (uk) (jazykóvyj)
• Volapük: linegik
• Welsh: tafodol

related to language — see linguistic

Noun

lingual (plural linguals)

1. (phonetics) A sound articulated with the tongue.

Coordinate terms

• alveolar
• dental
• glottal
• labial
• nasal
• palatal
• pharyngeal
• velar

Translations

sound articulated with the tongue

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 舌音 (zh) (shéyīn)

• Finnish: kieliäänne
• German: Zungenlaut m
• Japanese: 舌音 (ぜつおん, zetsuon)
• Kashmiri: زیٚوؠ (zev')
• Latin: linguālis

References

• “lingual”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “lingual”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• Luliang, Lüliang, lingula

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin linguālis.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Adjective

lingual (feminine linguale, masculine plural linguaux, feminine plural linguales)

1. lingual

Descendants

• → Romanian: lingual

Further reading

• “lingual”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

German

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin linguālis, from Latin lingua (“tongue, speech”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

lingual (strong nominative masculine singular lingualer, not comparable)

1. (relational) tongue; lingual
2. (relational) language; lingual, linguistic

   Synonym: sprachlich

Derived terms

• audiolingual
• bilingual
• extralingual
• interlingual
• intralingual
• monolingual
• multilingual
• paralingual
• perlingual
• plurilingual
• sublingual
• trilingual

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin linguālis, from Latin lingua (“tongue, speech”) + -ālis. By surface analysis, língua +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /lĩˈɡwaw/ [lĩˈɡwaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /lĩˈɡwal/ [lĩˈɡwaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /lĩˈɡwal/ [lĩˈɡwaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /lĩˈɡwa.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: lin‧gual

Adjective

lingual m or f (plural linguais)

1. (anatomy) lingual (relating to the tongue)
2. (phonetics) lingual (articulated with the tongue)

Related terms

• língua

Further reading

• “lingual”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “lingual”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French lingual, from Medieval Latin linguālis.

Adjective

lingual m or n (feminine singular linguală, masculine plural linguali, feminine/neuter plural linguale)

1. lingual

Declension

Declension of lingual

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	lingual		linguală	linguali	linguale
	definite	lingualul		linguala	lingualii	lingualele
genitive- dative	indefinite	lingual		linguale	linguali	linguale
	definite	lingualului		lingualei	lingualilor	lingualelor

Spanish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin linguālis, from Latin lingua (“tongue, speech”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /linˈɡwal/ [lĩŋˈɡwal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: lin‧gual

Adjective

lingual m or f (masculine and feminine plural linguales)

1. lingual

Derived terms

• sublingual

Related terms

• lengua

Further reading

• “lingual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025