tongue: [OE] Tongue is a general Germanic word, with relatives in German zunge, Dutch tong, Swedish tonga, and Danish tonge. These all evolved from a prehistoric Germanic *tunggōn, whose ultimate ancestor was Indo- European *dnghwā-. This also produced Latin lingua ‘tongue, language’ (source of English language, linguistic, etc), Welsh tafod ‘tongue’, Russian jazyk ‘tongue’, etc. => language, linguistic
tongue (n.)
Old English tunge "tongue, organ of speech; speech, a people's language," from Proto-Germanic *tungon (cognates: Old Saxon and Old Norse tunga, Old Frisian tunge, Middle Dutch tonghe, Dutch tong, Old High German zunga, German Zunge, Gothic tuggo), from PIE *dnghwa- (cognates: Latin lingua "tongue, speech, language," from Old Latin dingua; Old Irish tenge, Welsh tafod, Lithuanian liezuvis, Old Church Slavonic jezyku).
For substitution of -o- for -u-, see come. The spelling of the ending of the word apparently is a 14c. attempt to indicate proper pronunciation, but the result is "neither etymological nor phonetic, and is only in a very small degree historical" [OED]. In the "knowledge of a foreign language" sense in the Pentecostal miracle, from 1520s. Tongue-tied is first recorded 1520s. To hold (one's) tongue "refrain from speaking" was in Old English. Johnson has tonguepad "A great talker."
tongue (v.)
"to touch with the tongue, lick," 1680s, from tongue (n.). Earlier as a verb it meant "drive out by order or reproach" (late 14c.). Related: Tongued; tonguing.
雙語例句
1. Teddy clucked his tongue like a disapproving English matron.
特迪咂了咂舌頭，活像個不以為然的英國女舍監。
來自柯林斯例句
2. He stuck out his tongue and flared his nostrils.
他伸出舌頭，鼻翼扇動著。
來自柯林斯例句
3. I walked over to the mirror and stuck my tongue out.
我走到鏡子前面伸出舌頭。
來自柯林斯例句
4. Tongue lolling, the dog came lolloping back from the forest.
那只狗伸著舌頭從樹林里蹣跚地跑回來。
來自柯林斯例句
5. She made a face and stuck out her tongue at him.