What does lengua in Spanish mean?

What is the meaning of the word lengua in Spanish? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use lengua in Spanish.

The word lengua in Spanish means tongue, language, clapper, blaze, tongue, spit, cat have one's tongue, let the cat out the bag, tongue in vinaigrette, agglutinative language, Occitan, langue d'oïl, sign language, mother tongue, mother tongue, dead language, native language, native tongue, common tongue, gossip, gossiper, living language, bite your tongue, stick out your tongue, not mince your words, spill the beans, have on the tip of your tongue, make talk, bite your tongue, making use of the language. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word lengua

tongue

nombre femenino (órgano muscular de la boca) (part of mouth)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Me he mordido la lengua.
I bit my tongue.

language

nombre femenino (idioma) (communication system)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
La lengua inglesa se habla en todos los continentes.
The English language is spoken on every continent.

clapper

nombre femenino (campana: badajo) (of a bell)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Esa campana no suena porque se le cayó la lengua.
The bell doesn't chime because its clapper fell off.

blaze

nombre femenino (llamarada) (jet of fire)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
El bombero apagó una lengua de fuego.
The firefighter put out a blaze of fire.

tongue, spit

nombre femenino (tierra que entra al agua) (strip of land, promontory)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
El barco encalló en una lengua de arena.
The boat ran aground on a spit.

cat have one's tongue

expresión (coloquial (quedarse mudo)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")

let the cat out the bag

locución verbal (coloquial (revelar algo por indiscreción) (colloquial)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Mi cuñada se fue de la lengua y arruinó la sorpresa que teníamos preparada para mi hermano.

tongue in vinaigrette

(comida)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Mi tía prepara una lengua a la vinagreta exquisita.

agglutinative language

locución nominal femenina (predominancia de aglutinación)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

Occitan

locución nominal femenina (conjunto de dialectos)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Los trovadores cantaban en lengua de oc.

langue d'oïl

locución nominal femenina (francés antiguo) (French)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
La lengua de oíl es un conjunto de dialectos hablados al norte del Loira.
Langue d'oïl is a group of dialects spoken north of the Loire.

sign language

(habla por gestos)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Sonia es sordomuda y habla por lenguaje de signos.
Sonia is deaf and dumb and speaks in sign language.

mother tongue

locución nominal femenina (lengua fuente de otras)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
El español es mi lengua madre pero hablo perfecto inglés.
Spanish is my mother tongue but I speak perfect English.

mother tongue

(primera lengua)

Aunque Carlos habla alemán y francés con fluidez, se siente más cómodo comunicándose en español, que es su lengua materna.
While Carlos speaks French and German fluently, he's more comfortable speaking Spanish, his mother tongue.

dead language

nombre femenino (que ya no se habla)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
El latín es una lengua muerta.
Latin is a dead language.

native language, native tongue

(idioma de nacimiento)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Nació en Francia y el francés es su lengua nativa.
She was born in France and French is her native language (or: native tongue).

common tongue

(lengua del pueblo)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
El lenguaje popular está lleno de dichos y refranes.

gossip, gossiper

nombre femenino (peyorativo, figurado (persona malintencionada) (person)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Las lenguas viperinas destruyeron su reputación.

living language

(lengua con hablantes activos)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

bite your tongue

locución verbal (esforzarse en callar) (figuratively)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Tuve que morderme la lengua para no decirle lo que pensaba de ella.
I had to bite my tongue so I wouldn't tell him what I thought about her.

stick out your tongue

locución verbal (hacer burla con la lengua)

(phrasal verb, transitive, separable: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning, divisible--for example, "call off" [=cancel], "call the game off," "call off the game.")
Los niños están castigados por sacar la lengua durante la clase de historia.
The children have been punished for sticking out their tongue (or: sticking their tongue out) in history class.

not mince your words

locución adjetiva (que habla sin cortarse)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Mi madre, que es una mujer sin pelos en la lengua, me dijo que no debería casarme.
My mother, who doesn't mince her words, told me that I shouldn't get married.

spill the beans

locución verbal (figurado, coloquial (comenzar a hablar más de la cuenta) (figurative)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

have on the tip of your tongue

locución verbal (coloquial (casi recordar)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
¿Cómo se llama tu esposo? ¡Tengo su nombre en la punta de la lengua!

make talk

locución verbal (coloquial (sacar información)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

bite your tongue

locución verbal (figurado (ahogarse con saliva) (figurative)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

making use of the language

(para comunicarse) (communication)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

Let's learn Spanish

So now that you know more about the meaning of lengua in Spanish, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Spanish.

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Spanish (español), also known as Castilla, is a language of the Iberian-Romance group of the Romance languages, and the 4th most common language in the world according to Some sources, while others list it as a 2nd or 3rd most common language. It is the mother tongue of about 352 million people, and is spoken by 417 million people when adding its speakers as a language. sub (estimated in 1999). Spanish and Portuguese have very similar grammar and vocabulary; The number of similar vocabulary of these two languages is up to 89%. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries around the world. It is estimated that the total number of speakers of Spanish is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers.