Synonyms of tongue

tongue

noun

ˈtəŋ 

as in language

the stock of words, pronunciation, and grammar used by a people as their basic means of communication

he spoke in a tongue that I didn't understand

Synonyms & Similar Words

• language
• vocabulary
• dialect
• idiom
• speech
• mother tongue
• terminology
• lingo
• slang
• vernacular
• colloquial
• patois
• pidgin
• jargon
• colloquialism
• argot
• patter
• parlance
• idiolect
• regionalism
• slanguage
• coinage
• localism
• cant
• neologism
• vernacularism
• shibboleth
• provincialism
• modernism
• acrolect

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of tongue

In the guesthouse, the couple replaced the kitchenette appliances and cabinetry, and installed new floors and tongue-and-groove ceilings and walls. — Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 6 Aug. 2026

Like Dante, Nick Tosches was an undaunted character whose tongue-twisting prose was an iconoclastic mash-up of realism and intricate, erudite lyricism. — A.d. Amorosi, SPIN, 6 Aug. 2026

Fathom is cool, rolls off the tongue and sounds like the name of a Ford. — Greg Migliore, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026

Jamaica’s official language and civilizational ideal was the Queen’s English, but the island’s lingua franca was the marvelous variant of that tongue called patois. — Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026

Phrases Containing tongue

• hold one's tongue
• mother tongue

Video

An Abbreviated History of American English Spelling

Soop, wimmen, and headake did not make the cut