noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Synonym of tongue.

   "Let your lingua loiter on its salty, hard surface. When you finally crack the nut, don’t swallow it right away."

2. 2
   a mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity wordnet
3. 3
   A median process of the labium, at the underside of the mouth in insects, and serving as a tongue.

Synonyms

All synonyms

tongueclapperdialectglossaidiomlingo

Example

More examples

"Today's lingua francas aren't very Frankish at all."

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin lingua (“the tongue”). Doublet of langue and tongue.

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