Etymograph

English

tongue

Tongue comes from Middle English tongue, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tungǭ1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tungā1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150tunge1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tongue1
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1515–1516tongue1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tongue
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton: “But lering and lurking here and there like ſpies,”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂sWiktionary, English tonguereconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tungǭWiktionary, English tonguereconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*tungāWiktionary, English tonguereconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150tungeWiktionary, English tongue
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tongueWiktionary, English tongue
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1515–1516tongueWiktionary, English tongue. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton: “But lering and lurking here and there like ſpies,”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with tongue, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s

  • language ← langage ← *linguāticum ← lingua ← dingua
  • lang ← language ← langage ← language ← *linguāticum
  • linguistic ← linguistisch ← Linguistik ← Linguist ← lingua
  • bilingual ← bilinguis ← lingua ← dingua ← *dn̥ɣwā
  • lingo ← lingua ← dingua ← *dn̥ɣwā
  • linguist ← lingua ← dingua ← *dn̥ɣwā
  • lingual ← linguālis ← lingua ← dingua ← *dn̥ɣwā
  • lingua ← dingua ← *dn̥ɣwā
  • linguine ← lingua ← lingua ← dingua ← *dn̥ɣwā

through Proto-West Germanic *tungā

22 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun 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.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tongue”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s / tongue