Dictionary

languet en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈleɪ̯ŋɡwɪt/ US, Canada, æ-raising, weak vowel distinction
• /ˈlæŋɡwɪt/ Received Pronunciation, General American, without æ-raising, weak vowel distinction
• /ˈleɪ̯ŋɡwət/ US, Canada, æ-raising, weak vowel merger
• /ˈlæŋɡwət/ General American, Australia, without æ-raising, weak vowel merger

Etymology

From Old French languete (modern French languette), diminutive of langue (“tongue”), from Latin lingua.

Meanings

1. A tongue-shaped implement, specifically: ▸ A narrow blade on the edge of a spade or shovel.
2. A tongue-shaped implement, specifically: ▸ A piece of metal on a sword hilt which overhangs the scabbard.
3. A tongue-shaped implement, specifically: ▸ A flat plate in (or opposite and below the mouth of) the pipe of an organ.
   • If there is music for this it’s windy strings and reed sections standing in bright shirt fronts and black ties all along the beach, a robed organist by the breakwater—itself broken, crusted with tides—whose languets and flues gather and shape the resident spooks here. 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:
4. (archaic) A narrow tongue of land.
5. A tongue-like organ found on certain tunicates.

Forms

Synonyms

language · languid