Etimology
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”). Displaced native Old English ġeþēode.
noun
language (countable and uncountable, plural languages)
(countable) 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.
(uncountable) The ability to communicate using words.
(uncountable) A sublanguage: the slang of a particular community or jargon of a particular specialist field.
(countable, uncountable, figurative) The expression of thought (the communication of meaning) in a specified way; that which communicates something, as language does.
(countable, uncountable) A body of sounds, signs and/or signals by which animals communicate, and by which plants are sometimes also thought to communicate.
(computing, countable) A computer language; a machine language.
(uncountable) Manner of expression.
(uncountable) The particular words used in a speech or a passage of text.
(uncountable) Profanity.
Examples
The English language and the German language are related.
Deaf and mute people communicate using languages like ASL.
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.
the gift of language
Language is the articulation of the limited to express the unlimited; it is the ultimate mystery which is the image of God, for in breaking up infinity to create finite beings, God has found a way to let the limited being yet be a reflection of His unlimited Being.
Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
And ‘blubbing’... Blubbing went out with ‘decent’ and ‘ripping’. Mind you, not a bad new language to start up. Nineteen-twenties schoolboy slang could be due for a revival.
legal language; the language of chemistry
body language; the language of the eyes
A tale about themselves [is] told by people with help from the universal languages of their eyes, their hands, and even their shirting feet.
Birding had become like that for me. It is a language that, once learnt, I have been unable to unlearn.
A more likely hypothesis was that the attacked leaves were transmitting some airborne chemical signal to sound the alarm, rather like insects sending out warnings […] But this is the first time that a plant-to-plant language has been detected.
Prairie dogs use their language to refer to real dangers in the real world, so it definitely has meaning.
In fact pointers are called references in these languages to distinguish them from pointers in languages like C and C++.
Their language simple, as their manners meek, […]
The language used in the law does not permit any other interpretation.
The language he used to talk to me was obscene.
"Where the hell is Horace?" ¶ "There he is. He's coming. You shouldn't use language."
Related words
synonyms
(form of communication): see Thesaurus:language
(vocabulary of a particular field): see Thesaurus:jargon
(computer language): computer language, programming language, machine language
(particular words used): see Thesaurus:wording
hypernyms
medium
hyponyms
See Category:en:Languages
related terms
langue
lingua
lingua franca
linguine
linguistics
tonguage
verb
language (third-person singular simple present languages, present participle languaging, simple past and past participle languaged)
(rare, now nonstandard or technical) To communicate by language; to express in language.
Examples
Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they have a double sense.
interjection
language
An admonishment said in response to vulgar language.
Examples
You're a pile of shit!Hey! Language!
Etimology
Alteration of languet.
noun
language (plural languages)
A languet, a flat plate in or below the flue pipe of an organ.
Examples
A flue-pipe is one in which the air passes through the throat, or flue, which is the narrow, longitudinal aperture between the lower lip and the tongue, or language. […] The language is adjusted by slightly elevating or depressing it, […]