tenir sa langue
\tə.niʁ sa lɑ̃ɡ\
The verdict
“tenir sa langue” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ne pas divulguer une information confidentielle, un secret.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tenir sa langue |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \tə.niʁ sa lɑ̃ɡ\ |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tenir sa langue” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for tenir sa langue is 15 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tə.niʁ sa lɑ̃ɡ\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tenir sa langue, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is tenir sa langue, spelled T-E-N-I-R- -S-A- -L-A-N-G-U-E.
Definition
- 1Ne pas divulguer une information confidentielle, un secret.
- 2S’abstenir de faire des remarques déplacées.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “tenir sa langue”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-E-N-I-R- -S-A- -L-A-N-G-U-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \tə.niʁ sa lɑ̃ɡ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.