# tongue

/ˈtəŋ/ (US) · /tˈʌŋ/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/tongue
Updated: 2026-08-15

## Senses

### 1. organ in the mouth

noun · CEFR A1

the soft, movable part inside your mouth that you use for tasting, licking, and speaking.

For teachers: the flexible muscular organ in the oral cavity used for tasting, food manipulation, and phonetic articulation.

- The child stuck out his tongue at his sister after they had an argument.
- The doctor asked the patient to stick out her tongue to check for signs of dehydration or infection during the routine physical examination.

### 2. a language

noun · CEFR B2 · Literary · Formal

a particular language that a group of people speaks.

For teachers: a specific language or dialect; often used metonymically in literary or formal contexts.

- It was strange to hear my mother tongue being spoken so far away from home.
- The ancient manuscript was written in a forgotten tongue that scholars have struggled to decipher for decades.

### 3. part of a shoe

noun · CEFR B1

the strip of leather or fabric under the laces of a shoe.

For teachers: the flap of material in a shoe that rests under the laces and protects the top of the foot.

- He pulled up the tongue of his boot before tying the laces tightly.
- The padded tongue of the running shoe is designed to reduce pressure from the laces during long-distance training sessions.

### 4. flame or land

noun · CEFR C1 · Literary

something long and thin that looks like a tongue, such as a piece of land or a flame.

For teachers: a long, narrow projection of something, such as land extending into water or a flickering flame.

- A long tongue of land stretched out into the cold blue sea.
- Tongues of fire licked at the edges of the wooden beams as the abandoned warehouse was consumed by the blaze.

### 5. religious speech

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical · Formal

strange sounds or languages spoken during a religious service.

For teachers: the phenomenon of speaking in unknown languages, typically during religious worship; often pluralized.

- Some members of the church began speaking in tongues during the ceremony.
- The sociological study examined the practice of speaking in tongues within various charismatic religious movements across the globe.

### 6. musical articulation

verb · CEFR C1 · Technical

to use your tongue to start a note when playing a wind instrument like a flute or trumpet.

For teachers: to articulate notes on a wind instrument by interrupting the air stream with the tongue.

- The teacher told the student to tongue the notes more clearly for the fast passage.
- The piece requires the flautist to tongue each staccato note with precision to maintain the rhythmic integrity of the composition.

## Examples

- The doctor asked me to stick out my tongue.
- She spoke in her mother tongue during the phone call, as it felt more natural than using English.
- The chef's palate was so refined that even a tiny sample on the tip of his tongue allowed him to identify every spice in the complex sauce.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.