# tongue

> English word · Noun · IPA /tʌŋ/ · frequency rank #3,853

## Definitions
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. Such an organ, as taken from animals and used for food (especially from cows).
3. 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.
4. A language.
5. The speakers of a language, collectively.
6. A voice, (the distinctive sound of a person's speech); accent (distinctive manner of pronouncing a language).
7. A manner of speaking, often habitually.
8. A person speaking in a specified manner.
9. The power of articulate utterance; speech generally.
10. Discourse; the fluency of speech or expression.
11. Discourse; fluency of speech or expression.
12. Honorable discourse; eulogy.
13. Glossolalia.
14. 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).
15. 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.
16. A projection, or slender appendage or fixture.
17. A long, narrow strip of land, projecting from the mainland into a sea or lake.
18. The pole of a towed or drawn vehicle or farm implement (e.g., trailer, cart, plow, harrow), by which it is pulled; for example, the pole of an ox cart, to the end of which the oxen are yoked.
19. The clapper of a bell.
20. An individual point of flame from a fire.
21. A small sole (type of fish).
22. 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.
23. A reed.
24. A division of formation; A layer or member of a formation that pinches out in one direction.
25. The middle protrusion of a triple-tailed flag.

## Etymology
From Middle English tongue, a late spelling of tong(e), tung(e), from Old English tunge, from Proto-West Germanic *tungā, from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (“tongue”). Doublet of language and lingua. Cognates include Dutch tong, German Zunge, Swedish tunga, Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍉 (tuggō), and further Irish teanga, Latin lingua, Russian язык (jazyk), Persian زبان (zabân), etc. See the Indo-European entry for more.
The expected modern spelling, both phonetically and etymologically, would be tung. Using ⟨on⟩ for ⟨un⟩ was fairly common in Middle English, compare e.g. yong (“young”). The final ⟨gue⟩ arose to prevent tonge being misread with a soft /dʒ/. However, this spelling only became common at a time when the final ⟨e⟩ was already largely silent, so it is not clear why it was not simply dropped instead. Perhaps the spelling was influenced directly by French langue (“tongue”).

## Easily confused with
- **tonne** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tongue-vs-tonne)
- **torque** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tongue-vs-torque)
- **tongues** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tongue-vs-tongues)
- **tongued** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tongue-vs-tongued)
- **tone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tone-vs-tongue)
- **tong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tong-vs-tongue)
- **Tonga** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tonga-vs-tongue)
- **tinge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tinge-vs-tongue)
- **tongs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tongs-vs-tongue)
- **tangle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tangle-vs-tongue)
- **toggle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toggle-vs-tongue)
- **Teague** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/teague-vs-tongue)
- **tingle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tingle-vs-tongue)

## Common misspellings (8)
`otngue`, `tnogue`, `tognue`, `tongeu`, `tonggue`, `tonngue`, `tonuge`, `ttongue`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tongue