tongue (English)

Where does "tongue" come from?

The English 'tongue' descends from a very old Indo-European root, reconstructed as '*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s' meaning 'tongue'[1]. In Proto-Germanic it became the n-stem '*tungǭ'[3], which passed into Proto-West Germanic as '*tungā'[4] and then into Old English as 'tunge'[2]. Middle English spellings such as 'tonge' and 'tung' led to the modern form[1]. The final '-gue' is unusual, since the expected spelling would be 'tung', and it may have been influenced by French 'langue'[1]. The organ sense also gave rise to many figurative meanings, including 'language', 'speech', and 'accent'.

Open questions

• The Indo-European root '*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s' is a reconstructed form and not an attested word. [1] [3]
• The influence of French 'langue' on the spelling of 'tongue' is only a possibility, offered without firm evidence. [1]
• The reason the silent '-gue' ending was adopted rather than dropping the final 'e' is not clear. [1]

Full etymology tree

• tongue (English), 'The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech.'
  • inherited tongue (Middle English)
    • inherited tunge (Old English), 'a tongue'
      • inherited *tungā (Proto-West Germanic), 'tongue'
        • inherited *tungǭ (Proto-Germanic), 'tongue'
          • inherited *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (Proto-Indo-European), 'tongue'
    • influenced by langue (French), 'tongue'

Ancestors

• tunge (Old English)
• *tungā (Proto-West Germanic)
• *tungǭ (Proto-Germanic)
• *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (Proto-Indo-European)

Cognates and doublets

• tong (Dutch)
• language (English)
• lingua (English)
• langue (French)
• Zunge (German)
• 𐍄𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍉 (Gothic)
• teanga (Irish)
• lingua (Latin)
• زبان (Persian)
• язык (Russian)
• tunga (Swedish)

Descendants and derived words

• tang (Australian Kriol)
• tang (Bislama)
• tongo (Sranan Tongo)
• tang (Tok Pisin)
• tang (Tok Pisin)
• tang (Torres Strait Creole)

Related words

• tooth (English)

Sources

1. tongue (English) - Wiktionary
2. tunge (Old English) - Wiktionary
3. tungǭ (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
4. tungā (Proto-West Germanic) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris