How to say “tongue” in 42 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- lengua/ˈlenɡwa/ Spanish
- язык[(j)ɪˈzɨk] Russian
- 혀[çʌ̹] Korean
- γλώσσα/ˈɣlo.sa/ Greek
- לשון/laːˈʃoːn/ Hebrew
- լեզու/leˈzu/ Armenian
“tongue” in Spanish: lengua · French: langue · German: zunge · Italian: lingua · Portuguese: língua · Korean: 혀 · Russian: язык · Greek: γλώσσα
It is commonest in Urdu, where زبان is the 312th most used word.
Tongue in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans tong/tɔŋ/ #1,700
- Albanian gjuhën/ˈɟuhən/ #1,050
- Armenian լեզու/leˈzu/ #1,209
- Basque mihi/mihi/ #1,402
- Bengali জিহ্বা/ˈd͡ʒib.bʱa/ #1,861
- Bosnian jezik/jězik/ #1,043
- Bulgarian език[ɛˈzik] #1,418
- Catalan llengua[ˈʎeŋ.ɡwə] #1,477
- Croatian jezik/jězik/ #1,051
- Czech jazyk[ˈjazɪk] #1,559
- Danish tunge[ˈtˢɔŋə] #1,941
- Dutch tong/tɔŋ/ #2,098
- English taste/teɪst/ One of the sensations produced by the tongue… #1,232
- Esperanto langon/ˈlanɡon/ #1,473
- French langue/lɑ̃ɡ/ #1,478
- Galician lingua/ˈliŋɡwa/ #1,496
- German zunge/ˈt͡sʊŋə/ #2,385
- Greek γλώσσα/ˈɣlo.sa/ #1,080
- Hebrew לשון/laːˈʃoːn/ #2,367
- Hindi मातृभाषा/mɑːt̪.ɾɪ.bʱɑː.ʂɑː/ mother tongue, native language, first language #534
- Icelandic gellur/ˈcɛlʏr/ cod tongue #2,143
- Italian lingua/ˈlin.ɡwa/ #1,457
- Korean 혀[çʌ̹] #1,456
- Latvian mēli/ˈmeːli/ #2,248
- Lithuanian liežuvis[lʲiɛˈʒʊʋʲɪs] #2,216
- Macedonian јазик[ˈjazik] #1,099
- Malay lidah/lidah/ #1,677
- Malayalam നാക്ക്/n̪aːkkɨ/ #501
- Persian زبان[zæ.bɒ́ːn] #861
- Polish język/ˈjɛw̃.zɘk/ #2,010
- Portuguese língua/ˈlĩ.ɡwɐ/ #1,575
- Romanian limba/ˈlim.ba/ #1,228
- Russian язык[(j)ɪˈzɨk] #1,511
- Serbian jezik/jězik/ #1,027
- Slovak jazyk/jazik/ #782
- Slovenian jezik/jɛ̀ːzik/ #481
- Spanish lengua/ˈlenɡwa/ #1,946
- Swedish tunga/²tɵŋa/ a tongue #2,199
- Tamil நா/nɑː/ #1,207
- Telugu నాలుక/naːluka/ #729
- Urdu زبان/zə.bɑːn/ #312
- Vietnamese lưỡi[lɨəj˦ˀ˥] #1,410
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.