Dictionary

mother tongue en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈmʌð.ɚ ˌtʌŋ/ (General-American)
• (General-American) audio
• /ˈmʌð.ə ˌtʌŋ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English mother tonge, modyr tong, equivalent to mother + tongue. Compare Old Norse móðurtunga (“mother tongue”).

Meanings

1. The language one first learned; the language one grew up with; one's native language.
   • In the early Middle Ages, 'mother tongue' was largely 'a pejorative term to describe the unlearned language of women and children' (Haugen 1991: 82). This reflected the low status of women in society and contrasted with Latin, the more prestigious 'father tongue' on the continent. 2012, Máiréad Nic Craith, Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language, →ISBN:
   • Our conversation was entirely in Malay, as that is the official language here, and in fact the mother-tongue and only language of the controlleur, who is a native-born half-breed. 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 384:
   • A father tongue is a foreign language, therefore English is a foreign language not a mother tongue. 1993, Janice Rae Williamson, Sounding differences: conversations with seventeen Canadian women writers, →ISBN:
   • Ramanujan has also argued that many Hindu men have both a mother tongue (the everyday language, such as Tamil, spoken by women downstairs, in the back, in the kitchen) and a father tongue (once Sanskrit, more recently English, the literary lingua franca spoken—or at least discussed—by men in the front rooms). 2011, Wendy Doniger, The Implied Spider, →ISBN, page 144:
   • Throughout their long history as a minority, Anglo-Indians learned their "father tongue" but were indifferent to their "mother tongue," an indigenous Indian language. 1973, Noel Pitts Gist, Roy Dean Wright, Marginality and Identity, →ISBN:
   • His mother tongue is a relatively conservative dialect of Aramaic.
   • One young Tamil teacher had assimilated the sound-system of English so thoroughly to that of his mother-tongue that none of the Chinese and Malay children understood him. 1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 277:
2. The language spoken by one’s ancestors.
3. The language spoken by one's mother, when it differs from that spoken by one's father.
   • Questions about respondents' place of birth, their parents' place of birth, nativity, and language use (called “mother tongue” and “father tongue”) were added to the Census between 1850 and 1960. 2006, Yo Jackson, Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology, →ISBN:
   • Informed by the experience of other parents who had successfully raised their children with more than one language and our own observations, we knew clearly that Léandre and Dominique's mother tongue and father tongue would not have a chance without deliberate 'control' of their linguistic environment. 2008 -, Xiao-Lei Wang, Growing Up with Three Languages: Birth to Eleven, →ISBN, page 58:
4. Informal speech, as opposed to educated language.
   • The other is the maturity and experience of that; if that is our mother tongue, this is our father tongue, a reserved and select expression, too significant to be heard by the ear, which we must be born again in order to speak. 1854, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods:
   • We learn the father tongue to prove we have outgrown the mother tongue. 1992, Gail B. Griffin, Calling : essays on teaching in the mother tongue, page 169:
   • In each case, we are reborn -- a fact that explains Thoreau's preference here for the father tongue over the mother tongue, as Cavell explains: "A son of man is born of woman; but rebirth, according to our Bible, is the business of the father." 2017, Andrew Norris, Becoming Who We Are, →ISBN:

Forms

Antonyms

father tongue · father tongue · father tongue

Relateds

ancestry · ethnicity

Synonyms

native tongue · mother language · L1 · native language · first language

Translations (175)

nb morsmål (one's native tongue) · az ana dili (one's native tongue) · tt туган тел (one's native tongue) · mk ма́јчин ја́зик (one's native tongue) · hi मातृभाषा (one's native tongue) · fur marilenghe (one's native tongue) · yi מוטער־שפּראַך (one's native tongue) · ja 自国語 (one's native tongue) · hak 阿姆話 /阿姆话 (one's native tongue) · nds-de Muddersprak (one's native tongue) · da modersmål (one's native tongue) · hu anyanyelv (one's native tongue) · ky эне тили (one's native tongue) · mi reo ūkaipō (one's native tongue) · ms bahasa ibunda (one's native tongue) · kmr zimanê zikmakî (one's native tongue) · sh materinji jezik (one's native tongue) · ta தாய் மொழி (one's native tongue) · dsb maśeršćina (one's native tongue) · ar لُغَة أُولَى (one's native tongue) · my မိခင်ဘာသာစကား (one's native tongue) · uk рі́дна мо́ва (one's native tongue) · wa lingaedje del mame (one's native tongue) · de Erstsprache (one's native tongue) · kk ана тілі (one's native tongue) · ur مادری زبان (one's native tongue) · sh materinski jezik (one's native tongue) · uz ona tili (one's native tongue) · ca llengua nativa (one's native tongue) · cs rodný jazyk (one's native tongue) · ar لُغَة قَوْمِيَّة (one's native tongue) · is móðurmál (one's native tongue) · fa زبان مادری (one's native tongue) · ca llengua materna (one's native tongue) · za vahcoj (one's native tongue) · pt língua nativa (one's native tongue) · hy մայրենի լեզու (one's native tongue) · mn эх хэл (one's native tongue) · pa ماں بولِی (one's native tongue) · vi ngôn ngữ đầu tiên (one's native tongue) · lo ພາສາແມ່ (one's native tongue) · se eatnigiella (one's native tongue) · tg забони модарӣ (one's native tongue) · ast llingua materna (one's native tongue) · ug ئانا تىل (one's native tongue) · gu માતૃભાષા (one's native tongue) · pt língua materna (one's native tongue) · te మాతృ భాష (one's native tongue) · liv jemākēļ (one's native tongue) · be ро́дная мо́ва (one's native tongue) · mn төрөлх хэл (one's native tongue) · ro limbă natală (one's native tongue) · my အမိဘာသာစကား (one's native tongue) · cs mateřština (one's native tongue) · eu ama-hizkuntza (one's native tongue) · es lengua materna (one's native tongue) · nl moerstaal (one's native tongue) · hsb maćerna rěč (one's native tongue) · kn ಮಾತೃಭಾಷೆ (one's native tongue) · ka მშობლიური ენა (one's native tongue) · sv modersmål (one's native tongue) · cy mamiaith (one's native tongue) · ro limbă nativă (one's native tongue) · ru родно́й язы́к (one's native tongue) · gv çhengey ny mayrey (one's native tongue) · ro limbă maternă (one's native tongue) · tt ана теле (one's native tongue) · sq gjuhë amtare (one's native tongue) · si මවු බස (one's native tongue) · lb Mammesprooch (one's native tongue) · eo hejmlingvo (one's native tongue) · crh ana til (one's native tongue) · ta தாய்மொழி (one's native tongue) · nl moedertaal (one's native tongue) · ks ماجہِ زؠو (one's native tongue) · rue материньскый язык (one's native tongue) · hsb maćeršćina (one's native tongue) · ru родна́я речь (one's native tongue) · th ภาษาแม่ (one's native tongue) · udm анай кыл (one's native tongue) · he שְׂפַת אֵם (one's native tongue) · kw mammyeth (one's native tongue) · sk materinská reč (one's native tongue) · ba туған тел (one's native tongue) · nan-hbl 母語 /母语 (one's native tongue) · mr मातृभाषा (one's native tongue) · mt ilsien matern (one's native tongue) · sq gjuhë nëne (one's native tongue) · af moedertaal (one's native tongue) · sl materinščina (one's native tongue) · gml Mōdersprāke (one's native tongue) · ga teanga dhúchais (one's native tongue) · cmn 本族語 /本族语 (one's native tongue) · es lengua nativa (one's native tongue) · bg ро́ден ези́к (one's native tongue) · sh матерински језик (one's native tongue) · km ភាសាកំណើត (one's native tongue) · ka დედაენა (one's native tongue) · el μητρική γλώσσα (one's native tongue) · ar لُغَة أُمّ (one's native tongue) · tk ene dili (one's native tongue) · mnc ᠨᡳᠶᠠᠮᠠᠩᡤᠠ ᡤᡳᠰᡠᠨ (one's native tongue) · gsw Mueterspraach (one's native tongue) · ko 모어 (one's native tongue) · mr मायबोली (one's native tongue) · br mammyezh (one's native tongue) · sh матерњи језик (one's native tongue) · nn morsmål (one's native tongue) · rsk мацерински язик (one's native tongue) · tl inang-wika (one's native tongue) · az آنا دیلی (one's native tongue) · vo motapük (one's native tongue) · chr ᎤᏂᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ (one's native tongue) · lt gimtoji kalba (one's native tongue) · hi मादरी ज़बान (one's native tongue) · ps مورنۍ ژبه (one's native tongue) · sk rodný jazyk (one's native tongue) · id bahasa ibu (one's native tongue) · kmr zimanê maderî (one's native tongue) · nds-de Modersprak (one's native tongue) · sh материњи језик (one's native tongue) · gd cainnt mhàthaireil (one's native tongue) · pa مات بولِی (one's native tongue) · ko 모국어 (one's native tongue) · hrx Muttersproch (one's native tongue) · ti ቋንቋ ኣደ (one's native tongue) · dlg төрөөбүт тыл (one's native tongue) · lez дидед чӏал (one's native tongue) · pa ਮਾਂ ਬੋਲੀ (one's native tongue) · sco mither tongue (one's native tongue) · sl máterni jêzik (one's native tongue) · ga máthairtheanga (one's native tongue) · vo lomapük (one's native tongue) · sh maternji jezik (one's native tongue) · af huistaal (one's native tongue) · kw yeth vamm (one's native tongue) · io matrala linguo (one's native tongue) · vi ngôn ngữ mẹ đẻ (one's native tongue) · oc lenguo maire (one's native tongue) · de Muttersprache (one's native tongue) · it madrelingua (one's native tongue) · br yezh vamm (one's native tongue) · bn মাতৃভাষা (one's native tongue) · nds-de Modersprake (one's native tongue) · cmn 母語 /母语 (one's native tongue) · es lengua natal (one's native tongue) · ja 母語 (one's native tongue) · fi äidinkieli (one's native tongue) · fr langue maternelle (one's native tongue) · tl katutubong wika (one's native tongue) · bg ма́йчин ези́к (one's native tongue) · fo móðurmál (one's native tongue) · te దేశభాష (one's native tongue) · cs mateřský jazyk (one's native tongue) · tr ana dili (one's native tongue) · et emakeel (one's native tongue) · sk materinský jazyk (one's native tongue) · lv dzimtā valoda (one's native tongue) · vi tiếng mẹ đẻ (one's native tongue) · ug ئانا تىلى (one's native tongue) · aii ܠܸܫܵܢܵܐ ܐܸܡܗܵܝܵܐ (one's native tongue) · sw lugha ya mama (one's native tongue) · gl lingua materna (one's native tongue) · csb rodnô mòwa (one's native tongue) · yi מאַמע־לשון (one's native tongue) · gd cànan màthaireil (one's native tongue) · kmr zimanê bavkalan (one's native tongue) · ja 母国語 (one's native tongue) · tl inang wika (one's native tongue) · xal төрскн келн (one's native tongue) · pl język ojczysty (one's native tongue) · yue 母語 /母语 (one's native tongue) · or ମାତୃଭାଷା (one's native tongue) · cjs туған тили (one's native tongue) · nds-de Moodersprak (one's native tongue)