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What is the difference between tongue and language?

tongue | language |

Language is a synonym of tongue.



As nouns the difference between tongue and language

is that tongue is 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 while language is 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.

As verbs the difference between tongue and language

is that tongue is 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) while language is to communicate by language; to express in language.

tongue

English

(wikipedia tongue)

Alternative forms

* tounge (obsolete, now considered a misspelling''); tung (''informal/eye dialect ); tong, tonge, toong, toongue, toung, toungue, tunge (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • A language.
    • He was speaking in his native tongue .
    The poem was written in her native tongue .
  • The power of articulate utterance; speech generally.
  • * Dryden
    • parrots imitating human tongue
  • (obsolete) Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
  • * L'Estrange
    • Much tongue and much judgment seldom go together.
  • (obsolete) Honourable discourse; eulogy.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
    • She was born noble; let that title find her a private grave, but neither tongue nor honour.
  • (religion, often in the plural) Glossolalia.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • A projection, or slender appendage or fixture.
    • the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance
  • A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake.
  • The pole of a vehicle; especially, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.
  • The clapper of a bell.
  • (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.
  • A small sole (type of fish).
  • (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.
  • (music) A reed.

    • Synonyms

    * (language) language, lingo (colloquial)

    Verb

  • (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.
  • (slang) To manipulate with the tongue, as in kissing or oral sex.
  • To protrude in relatively long, narrow sections.
    • a soil horizon that tongues into clay
  • To join by means of a tongue and groove.
    • to tongue boards together
  • (obsolete) To talk; to prate.
    • (Dryden)
  • (obsolete) To speak; to utter.
  • * Shakespeare
    • such stuff as madmen tongue
  • (obsolete) To chide; to scold.
  • * Shakespeare
    • How might she tongue me.

    Derived terms

    * beef tongue * cat got someone's tongue * double tonguing * double-tongued * forked tongue * give tongue, give tongue to * hold one's tongue * law of the tongue * mother tongue * native tongue * roll off the tongue * sharp tongue * silver tongue * silver-tongued * speak in tongues * tongue and groove * tonguage * tongue depressor * tonguedom * tongue in cheek * tonguing * tongue lashing * tongueless * tonguely * tongueman * tongueness * tongue sandwich * tongue-shaped * tongueship * tonguesore * tongue-tie * tongue-tied * tongue twister * tonguey * tonguework * wicked tongue

    Anagrams

    *

    language

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) language, from (etyl) language, from .

    Noun

    {{examples-right, The English Wiktionary uses the English language' to define words from all of the world's ' languages .


    This person is saying "hello" in American sign language . }} (wikipedia language)
  • (lb) 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.
  • * 1867', ''Report on the Systems of Deaf-Mute Instruction pursued in Europe'', quoted in '''1983 in ''History of the College for the Deaf, 1857-1907 (ISBN 0913580856), page 240:
    • 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.
  • * {{quote-book, page=50, year=1900, author=(w)
    • , title= The History of the Caliph Vathek , passage=No language could express his rage and despair.}}
  • * 2000 , Geary Hobson, The Last of the Ofos (ISBN 0816519595), page 113:
    • 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 .
  • (lb) The ability to communicate using words.
  • (lb) The vocabulary and usage of a particular specialist field.
  • *
    • 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.
  • The expression of thought (the communication of meaning) in a specified way.
  • * 2001 , Eugene C. Kennedy, ?Sara C. Charles, On Becoming a Counselor (ISBN 0824519132):
    • A tale about themselves [is] told by people with help from the universal languages of their eyes, their hands, and even their shirting feet.
  • A body of sounds, signs and signals by which animals communicate, and by which plants are sometimes also thought to communicate.
  • A computer language; a machine language.
  • * 2015 , Kent D. Lee, Foundations of Programming Languages (ISBN 3319133144), page 94:
    • In fact pointers are called references in these languages' to distinguish them from pointers in ' languages like C and C++.
  • (lb) Manner of expression.
  • * (rfdate) Cowper:
    • Their language simple, as their manners meek,
  • (lb) The particular words used in a speech or a passage of text.
  • (lb) Profanity.
  • *{{quote-book, page=500, year=1978, author=James Carroll
    • , title= Mortal Friends, isbn=0440157897 , passage="Where the hell is Horace?" ΒΆ "There he is. He's coming. You shouldn't use language ."}}
    Synonyms
    * (form of communication) tongue, speech (spoken language) * (vocabulary of a particular field) lingo (colloquial), jargon, terminology, phraseology, parlance * (computer language) computer language, programming language, machine language * (particular words used) phrasing, wording, terminology
    Derived terms
    * artificial language * auxiliary language * bad language * body language * computing language * constructed language * endangered language * extinct language * foreign language * formal language * foul language * international language * language barrier * language code * language cop * language death * language extinction * language family * language lab, language laboratory * language model * language of flowers * language planning * language police * language pollution * language processing * language school * language shift * language technology * language transfer * languaging * machine language * mathematical language * mind one's language * natural language * pattern language * programming language * private language * secular language * sign language * speak someone's language * standard language * vehicular language * vernacular language
    Related terms
    * langue * lingual * linguine * linguistics * tonguage

    Verb

  • To communicate by language; to express in language.
  • * (rfdate) Fuller:
    • Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they have a double sense.

    See also

    * lexis, term, word * bilingual * linguistics * multilingual * trilingual

    Etymology 2

    Alteration of (m).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A languet, a flat plate in or below the flue pipe of an organ.
  • * 1896 , William Horatio Clarke, The Organist's Retrospect , page 79:
    • A flue-pipe is one in which the air passes through the throat, or flue, which is the narrow, longitudinal aperture between the lower lip and the tongue, or language'.

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