Meaning of "tongue" in the English dictionary

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD TONGUE

Old English tunge; related to Old Saxon, Old Norse tunga, Old High German zunga, Latin lingua.

Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF TONGUE

tongue  [tʌŋ]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF TONGUE

Tongue is a verb and can also act as a noun.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The verb is the part of the sentence that is conjugated and expresses action and state of being.

See the conjugation of the verb tongue in English.

WHAT DOES TONGUE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Tongue

The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste, as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. In humans a secondary function of the tongue is phonetic articulation. The tongue also serves as a natural means of cleaning one's teeth. The ability to perceive different tastes is not localised in different parts of the tongue, as is widely believed. This error arose because of misinterpretation of some 19th-century research.

Definition of tongue in the English dictionary

The first definition of tongue in the dictionary is a movable mass of muscular tissue attached to the floor of the mouth in most vertebrates. It is the organ of taste and aids the mastication and swallowing of food. In man it plays an important part in the articulation of speech sounds related adjectives glottic lingual. Other definition of tongue is an analogous organ in invertebrates. Tongue is also the tongue of certain animals used as food.

CONJUGATION OF THE VERB TO TONGUE

PRESENT

Present

I tongue

you tongue

he/she/it tongues

we tongue

you tongue

they tongue

Present continuous

I am tonguing

you are tonguing

he/she/it is tonguing

we are tonguing

you are tonguing

they are tonguing

Present perfect

I have tongued

you have tongued

he/she/it has tongued

we have tongued

you have tongued

they have tongued

Present perfect continuous

I have been tonguing

you have been tonguing

he/she/it has been tonguing

we have been tonguing

you have been tonguing

they have been tonguing

Present tense is used to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time or over a period that includes the present time. The present perfect refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves.

PAST

Past

I tongued

you tongued

he/she/it tongued

we tongued

you tongued

they tongued

Past continuous

I was tonguing

you were tonguing

he/she/it was tonguing

we were tonguing

you were tonguing

they were tonguing

Past perfect

I had tongued

you had tongued

he/she/it had tongued

we had tongued

you had tongued

they had tongued

Past perfect continuous

I had been tonguing

you had been tonguing

he/she/it had been tonguing

we had been tonguing

you had been tonguing

they had been tonguing

Past tense forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past,

FUTURE

Future

I will tongue

you will tongue

he/she/it will tongue

we will tongue

you will tongue

they will tongue

Future continuous

I will be tonguing

you will be tonguing

he/she/it will be tonguing

we will be tonguing

you will be tonguing

they will be tonguing

Future perfect

I will have tongued

you will have tongued

he/she/it will have tongued

we will have tongued

you will have tongued

they will have tongued

Future perfect continuous

I will have been tonguing

you will have been tonguing

he/she/it will have been tonguing

we will have been tonguing

you will have been tonguing

they will have been tonguing

The future is used to express circumstances that will occur at a later time.

CONDITIONAL

Conditional

I would tongue

you would tongue

he/she/it would tongue

we would tongue

you would tongue

they would tongue

Conditional continuous

I would be tonguing

you would be tonguing

he/she/it would be tonguing

we would be tonguing

you would be tonguing

they would be tonguing

Conditional perfect

I would have tongue

you would have tongue

he/she/it would have tongue

we would have tongue

you would have tongue

they would have tongue

Conditional perfect continuous

I would have been tonguing

you would have been tonguing

he/she/it would have been tonguing

we would have been tonguing

you would have been tonguing

they would have been tonguing

Conditional or "future-in-the-past" tense refers to hypothetical or possible actions.

IMPERATIVE

Imperative

you tongue
we let´s tongue
you tongue

The imperative is used to form commands or requests.

NONFINITE VERB FORMS

Infinitive

to tongue

Past participle

tongued

Present Participle

tonguing

Infinitive shows the action beyond temporal perspective. The present participle or gerund shows the action during the session. The past participle shows the action after completion.

SYNONYMS OF «TONGUE»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «tongue» and belong to the same grammatical category.

synonyms of tongue

argot · articulation · dialect · idiom · language · lingo · parlance · patois · speech · talk · utterance · vernacular · voice

TRANSLATION OF TONGUE

Find out the translation of tongue to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of tongue from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «tongue» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 舌头
• Translator English - Spanish: lengua
• English: tongue
• Translator English - Hindi: जीभ
• Translator English - Arabic: لِسَان
• Translator English - Russian: язык
• Translator English - Portuguese: língua
• Translator English - Bengali: জিহ্বা
• Translator English - French: langue
• Translator English - Malay: Lidah
• Translator English - German: Zunge
• Translator English - Japanese: 舌
• Translator English - Korean: 혀
• Translator English - Javanese: Ilat
• Translator English - Vietnamese: cái lưỡi
• Translator English - Tamil: தாய்மொழி
• Translator English - Marathi: जीभ
• Translator English - Turkish: dil
• Translator English - Italian: lingua
• Translator English - Polish: język
• Translator English - Ukrainian: язик
• Translator English - Romanian: limbă
• Translator English - Greek: γλώσσα
• Translator English - Afrikaans: tong
• Translator English - Swedish: tunga
• Translator English - Norwegian: tunge

10 QUOTES WITH «TONGUE»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word tongue.

1

Ferran Adria

I wanted to take nouvelle cuisine further, to the point where we were breaking down the essence of taste and sensation, reconfiguring food as a series of really intense hits on the tongue.

2

Lucy Alibar

I was a really bad teenager and I got my tongue pierced. I don't even remember where I did it, but it was under very surreptitious circumstances.

3

Karen Armstrong

I have a very sharp tongue, I'm very impatient, and it's a lifelong struggle.

4

Roger Ascham

He that will write well in any tongue, must follow this counsel of Aristotle, to speak as the common people do, to think as wise men do: and so should every man understand him, and the judgment of wise men allow him.

5

George Bancroft

In nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person.

6

Josh Billings

The best time for you to hold your tongue is the time you feel you must say something or bust.

7

Geoffrey Boycott

Once I got cancer of the tongue and throat, I realised that stress is a killer and I had to try and get stress out of my life.

8

Louis D. Brandeis

What is Americanization? It manifests itself, in a superficial way, when the immigrant adopts the clothes, the manners and the customs generally prevailing here. Far more important is the manifestation presented when he substitutes for his mother tongue the English language as the common medium of speech.

9

Steve Carell

Your brain, like your tongue, is a muscle. Practicing thinking by yourself really helps develop your brain, which you need throughout your day. I like to practice my thinking in a darkened room, alone.

10

Kelly Corrigan

It's funny, I'd rather be known as a writer who crafted a really nice piece about women's friendships over time. But that doesn't roll off the tongue like 'YouTube sensation.'

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «TONGUE»

Discover the use of tongue in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to tongue and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

30 Days to Taming Your Tongue

Pegues's 30-day devotional will help each reader not only tame his or her tongue but make it productive, rather than destructive. Scripturally based personal affirmations combine to make each applicable and life-changing.

Deborah Smith Pegues, 2008

Native Tongue

A brilliant cult classic of literary science fiction--back in print.

Suzette Haden Elgin, 2000

Tongue: A Creative Force

Man was created in the image of God and in His likeness. Learn to speak His faith-filled words to your situation and see your life transformed. Allow God's creative power to flow from you.

Charles Capps, 1976

Ayurvedic Tongue Diagnosis

Reveals the underlying cause, stage and progression of a disease. This book reflects the quality of Prana, blood, bodily fluids, and essence and examines the expression of the Five Elements in each organ.

Walter Kacera, 2006

Challenging the Traditional Axioms: Translation Into a ...

Translation into a non-mother tongue or inverse translation, especially of literary texts, has always been frowned upon within Translation Studies in Western cultures and regarded by literary scholars and linguists as an activity of dubious ...

Nike K. Pokorn, 2005

Gold Mirrors and Tongue Reflections: The Cornerstone ...

Two of the major texts in the history of tongue diagnosis are presented and put into context in this volume, reaffirming the strength of tongue diagnosis as a core diagnostic method.

Ioannis Solos Solos, 2012

30 Days to Taming Your Tongue Workbook

As a companion to the bestselling book, this interactive 30-day guide will help readers put into practice what they're learning.

Deborah Smith Pegues, 2007

The Little Giant Book of Tongue Twisters

An illustrated collection of hundreds of difficult tongue twisters, arranged alphabetically.

Joseph Rosenbloom, 1999

Adam's Tongue: How Humans Made Language, How Language Made ...

Written in Bickerton’s lucid and irreverent style, this book is the first that thoroughly integrates the story of how language evolved with the story of how humans evolved.

Derek Bickerton, 2009

Altmann's tongue: stories and a novella

Brian Evenson has added an O. Henry Award–winning short story, "Two Brothers," to this controversial book and a new afterword, in which he describes the troubling aftermath of the book's publication in 1994.

Brian Evenson, 2002

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «TONGUE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term tongue is used in the context of the following news items.

Debra Messing on Jeremy Piven: He 'shoved his tongue' down my …

"The very first day of rehearsal, he shoved his tongue all the way down to my heart," Messing told Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens: Live" this week. «Fox News, Jul 15»

Dog may lose tongue after her mouth was tied shut with electrical …

After vets in North Charleston, South Carolina, carefully released the tape, her tongue and mouth swelled to almost double their normal size, leaving them ... «Mirror.co.uk, May 15»

Dog Found With Mouth Taped Shut in South Carolina May Lose …

“A large part of her tongue may need to be removed surgically if the tissue dies from the lack of blood flow. She may be severely disfigured, or the large amount ... «KTLA, May 15»

This Girl's Tongue Is So Long She Can Lick Her Eye

The 18-year-old from Michigan has made a name for herself on social media for having a tongue that Kiss rocker Gene Simmons would be proud of. «TIME, May 15»

W.Va. court removes sexual motivation finding for doc who put …

The West Virginia Supreme Court has upheld the battery conviction of a physician but set aside a finding that he was sexually motivated when he put his tongue ... «Fox News, Apr 15»

Iron Maiden singer has tongue cancer, band says

Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson is being treated for cancer of the tongue, the heavy metal band announced on its website Thursday. But it was caught early, ... «USA TODAY, Feb 15»

Miley Cyrus' bondage-themed short film 'Tongue Tied' pulled from …

The pop provocateur's racy "Tongue Tied" video was pulled from the first-ever NYC Porn Festival, just one day after its inclusion was announced. Miley shot the ... «New York Daily News, Feb 15»

Mystery tuna creature is tongue-eating parasite, says expert

But the Natural History Museum said that the head probably belonged to a Cymothoa exigua, or tongue-eating louse. The parasite lives inside a fish, entering ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Feb 15»

Man stole 6 pounds of cow tongue from Walmart, stuffed it in pants …

Police said Puckett went to the cooler, put the cow tongue down his pants and tried to walk out of the store. He was stopped by loss prevention officers, who ... «WKMG Orlando, Dec 14»

Longest tongue is one of the new Guinness world records

"I have to spend longer brushing my tongue in the morning." The announcement of Nick's claim to fame comes as Guinness reveals the newest set of record ... «BBC News, Sep 14»