mother tongue
Americannoun
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the language first learned by a child
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a language from which another has evolved
Etymology
Origin of mother tongue
1350–1400; Middle English moder tonge
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Though Vargas’ mother was educated in the American school system, she made a point of preserving her family’s mother tongue.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026
He dropped his English name, James, and resolved to write only in the language of the Kikuyu people, his mother tongue.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025
As the young children enthusiastically sang out phrases, Esau interjected occasionally to correct their pronunciation of the distinct sounds and deep clicks of her mother tongue, of which she is the last first-language speaker.
From Barron's • Oct. 10, 2025
He also dropped English as the primary language for his literature and vowed to only write in his mother tongue, Kikuyu.
From BBC • May 28, 2025
He had written it in Sanskrit, which was his mother tongue, and he had encoded the even lines in the private cipher of the Emperor Augustus and the odd ones in a Lacedemonian military code.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
