mother tongue

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun

The language one first learned; the language one grew up with; one's native language.
The language spoken by one’s ancestors.
The language spoken by one's mother, when it differs from that spoken by one's father.
Informal speech, as opposed to educated language.

/ˈmʌð.ə ˌtʌŋ/ /ˈmʌð.ɚ ˌtʌŋ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-mother tongue.wav LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-mother tongue.wav

mother tongue mother tongues

From Middle English mother tonge, modyr tong, equivalent to mother + tongue. Compare Old Norse móðurtunga (“mother tongue”).

first language mother language native language native tongue L1

father tongue

ancestry ethnicity

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

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