mother tongue

noun

1

: one's native language

2

: a language from which another language derives

Synonyms of mother tongue

• language
• vocabulary
• tongue
• dialect
• idiom

Examples of mother tongue in a Sentence

although the anthropologist could speak the local language fairly well, she was always glad to find someone who shared her mother tongue

Recent Examples on the Web

From the start of his career, Fela aimed to reach a larger and Pan-African audience by singing almost exclusively in Nigerian Pidgin English (rather than his mother tongue, Yoruba, which doesn't translate throughout most of the continent). —Ian Brennan, NPR, 15 Apr. 2026

Playing off a six-language broadcast which means it can be viewed by 75% of Europeans in their mother tongue, Arte is still growing. —John Hopewell, Variety, 26 Mar. 2026

First seen at a night-club table of menacing lowlifes, Ida, whose mother tongue is Brooklynese, suddenly switches to a heavy British accent and dispenses a torrent of highly literary sarcasms. —Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026

Work with people of different ages, backgrounds, perspectives, and mother tongues. —Rachel Konrad, Time, 9 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for mother tongue

• bremsstrahlung
• overhung
• among
• hirschsprung
• unsung
• bling
• bung
• clung
• dung
• flung
• fung
• hung

Kids Definition

mother tongue

noun

1

: one's native language

2

: a language from which another language develops