Birthtongue

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One's first language, learnt in early childhood; native language. rare

    "In replying timidly, Anita revealed her foreign accent, which was instantly observed. “You are American, of course? No? English? Ah, how stupid I am!" Forthwith he began to talk fluently in German, though Anita saw it was not his birthtongue."

Synonyms

All synonyms
native language

Example

More examples

"In replying timidly, Anita revealed her foreign accent, which was instantly observed. “You are American, of course? No? English? Ah, how stupid I am!" Forthwith he began to talk fluently in German, though Anita saw it was not his birthtongue."

Etymology

From Middle English burþe tonge, equivalent to birth + tongue.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.