language
/ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪd͡ʒ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.10 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A body of words, and set of methods of combining them (called a grammar), understood by a community and used as a form of communication.
Countable
noun
A sublanguage: the slang of a particular community or jargon of a particular specialist field.
Uncountable
noun
The expression of thought (the communication of meaning) in a specified way; that which communicates something, as language does.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A body of sounds, signs or signals by which animals communicate, and by which plants are sometimes also thought to communicate.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The English and German languages are both members of the West Germanic language family."
- "Deaf and mute people communicate using sign language."
- "He appears, and gives his advice, accompanied by a stone, which, by being put into the mouth, endows its possessor with the gift of all languages."
- "Hence the natural language of the mute is, in schools of this class, suppressed as soon and as far as possible, and its existence as a language, capable of being made the reliable and precise vehicle for the widest range of thought, is ignored."
- "No language could express his rage and despair."
- "Mr. Darko, generally acknowledged to be the last surviving member of the Ofo Tribe, was also the last remaining speaker of the tribe's language."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s Proto-Italic *dn̥ɣwā Latin dingua Latin lingua Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin -āticus Latin -āticum Vulgar Latin *linguāticum Old French languagebor. Middle English langage English language From Middle English langage, language, from Old French language, from Vulgar Latin *linguāticum, from Latin lingua (“tongue, speech, language”), from Old Latin dingua (“tongue”), from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (“tongue, speech, language”). Doublet of langaj. Displaced native Old English ġeþēode.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪd͡ʒ/
- British English: /ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪd͡ʒ/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Linguistics.
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
AB language
abstract language
A language
a language is a dialect with an army and navy
aspect-oriented language
aspect-oriented programming language
assembler language
assembly language