language definition
Overview
This page has 15 definitions of language in English, French, and Middle English. Language is a noun and verb. Examples of how to use language in a sentence are shown. Also define these 29 related words and terms: body, word, grammar, community, communication, ASL, sublanguage, slang, particular, jargon, specialist, field, blub, computing, computer language, machine language, manner, expression, speech, passage, text, profanity, communicate, express, languet, pipe, organ, langage, and language.
English language definition
Pronunciation
- enPR: lăngʹgwĭj, IPA(key): /ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ/
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): (see /æ/ raising) [ˈleɪŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: lan‧guage
Etymology 1
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”).
Noun
language (countable and uncountable, plural languages)
Examples |
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The English Wiktionary uses the English language to define words from all of the world's languages.
This person is saying "hello" in American sign language. |
- (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.
- The English language and the German language are related.
- Deaf and mute people communicate using languages like ASL.
- 1867, Report on the Systems of Deaf-Mute Instruction pursued in Europe, quoted in 1983 in History of the College for the Deaf, 1857-1907 →ISBN, page 240:
- 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.
- 1900, William Beckford, The History of the Caliph Vathek, page 50:
- No language could express his rage and despair.
- 2000, Geary Hobson, The Last of the Ofos, →ISBN, page 113:
- 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.
Body definition
Physical frame.- The physical structure of a human or animal seen as one single organism. (1 of 24 body definitions)
Word definition
The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest discrete, meaningful unit of language.- The smallest discrete unit of spoken language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more phonemes and one or more morphemes
- The smallest discrete unit of written language with a particular meaning, composed of one or more letters or symbols and one or more morphemes
- A discrete, meaningful unit of language approved by an authority or native speaker (compare non-word).
Grammar definition
A system of rules and principles for speaking and writing a language. (1 of 9 grammar definitions)
Communication definition
The act or fact of communicating anything; transmission. (1 of 10 communication definitions)
- (uncountable) The ability to communicate using words.
- the gift of language
- (uncountable) A sublanguage: the slang of a particular community or jargon of a particular specialist field.
- 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619:
- 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.
- 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 35:
- legal language; the language of chemistry
Slang definition
Language outside of conventional usage and in the informal register. (1 of 5 slang definitions)
Particular definition
Pertaining only to a part of something; partial. (1 of 10 particular definitions)
Jargon definition
A technical terminology unique to a particular subject. (1 of 3 jargon definitions)
Specialist definition
Specialised.
Field definition
A land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; open country. (1 of 29 field definitions)
Blub definition
To cry, whine or blubber (usually carries a connotation of disapproval). (1 of 2 blub definitions)
- (countable, uncountable, figurative) The expression of thought (the communication of meaning) in a specified way; that which communicates something, as language does.
- body language; the language of the eyes
- 2001, Eugene C. Kennedy, Sara C. Charles, On Becoming a Counselor →ISBN:
- A tale about themselves [is] told by people with help from the universal languages of their eyes, their hands, and even their shirting feet.
- 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 231:
- Birding had become like that for me. It is a language that, once learnt, I have been unable to unlearn.
- (countable, uncountable) A body of sounds, signs and/or signals by which animals communicate, and by which plants are sometimes also thought to communicate.
- 1983, The Listener, volume 110, page 14:
- 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.
- 2009, Animals in Translation, page 274:
- Prairie dogs use their language to refer to real dangers in the real world, so it definitely has meaning.
- 1983, The Listener, volume 110, page 14:
- (computing, countable) A computer language; a machine language.
- 2015, Kent D. Lee, Foundations of Programming Languages →ISBN, page 94
- In fact pointers are called references in these languages to distinguish them from pointers in languages like C and C++.
Computer Language definition
A language that is used internally by computers, including programming languages, machine languages, query languages, markup languages etc.
Machine Language definition
The set of instructions that a particular computer is designed to execute; generated from an assembly language by an assembler, or from a high-level language by a compiler or interpreter.
- 2015, Kent D. Lee, Foundations of Programming Languages →ISBN, page 94
- (uncountable) Manner of expression.
- 1782, William Cowper, Hope
- Their language simple, as their manners meek, […]
Expression definition
The action of expressing thoughts, ideas, feelings, etc. (1 of 10 expression definitions)
- 1782, William Cowper, Hope
- (uncountable) The particular words used in a speech or a passage of text.
- The language used in the law does not permit any other interpretation.
- The language he used to talk to me was obscene.
Speech definition
The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the ability to speak or to use vocalizations to communicate. (1 of 6 speech definitions)
Passage definition
Describing a bird that has left the nest, is living on its own, but is less than a year old. (commonly used in falconry)
Text definition
A writing consisting of multiple glyphs, characters, symbols or sentences. (1 of 7 text definitions)
- (uncountable) Profanity.
- 1978, James Carroll, Mortal Friends, →ISBN, page 500:
- "Where the hell is Horace?" ¶ "There he is. He's coming. You shouldn't use language."
Profanity definition
The quality of being profane; quality of irreverence, of treating sacred things with contempt. (1 of 2 profanity definitions)
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
Hyponyms
- artificial language
- auxiliary language
- bad language
- body language
- common language
- computer/computing language
- constructed language
- dead language
- endangered language
- engineered language
- everyday language
- experimental language
- extinct language
- foreign language
- formal language
- foul language
- global language
- hardware description language
- indigenous language
- international language
- link language
- literary language
- living language
- logical language
- machine language
- main language
- mathematical language
- meta language
- metaphorical language
- minority language
- modern language
- multi-paradigm language
- natural language
- object language
- pattern language
- philosophical language
- phonetic language
- planned language
- principal language
- private language
- programming language
- scripting language
- secular language
- sign language
- spoken language
- standard language
- subject-oriented language
- target language
- universal language
- vehicular language
- vernacular language
- working language
- world language
- active-stative language
- agglutinative language
- analytic language
- direct-inverse language
- E-language
- ergative-absolutive language
- I-language
- isolating language
- nominative-accusative language
- oligosynthetic language
- OV language
- polysynthetic language
- synthetic language
- tripartite language
- VO language
Derived terms
- English-language
- German-language
- interlanguage
- language barrier
- language code
- language cop
- language death
- language extinction
- language family
- language lab
- language laboratory
- language model
- language of education
- language of flowers
- language planning
- language police
- language pollution
- language processing
- language school
- language shift
- language technology
- language transfer
- languaging
- mind one's language
- Polish-language
- speak someone's language
- speak the same language
- Turkish-language
Related terms
Translations
See language/translations § Noun.
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.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, Church-History of Britain
- Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they have a double sense.
Communicate definition
To impart- To impart or transmit (information or knowledge) to someone; to make known, to tell. (1 of 10 communicate definitions)
Express definition
Moving or operating quickly, as a train not making local stops. (1 of 4 express definitions)
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, Church-History of Britain
See also
Etymology 2
Alteration of languet.
Noun
language (plural languages)
- A languet, a flat plate in or below the flue pipe of an organ.
- 1896, William Horatio Clarke, The Organist's Retrospect, page 79:
- 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, […]
Pipe definition
Meanings relating to a wind instrument.- A wind instrument consisting of a tube, often lined with holes to allow for adjustment in pitch, sounded by blowing into the tube.
- A tube used to produce sound in an organ; an organ pipe.
- The key or sound of the voice.
- A high-pitched sound, especially of a bird.
Organ definition
A larger part of an organism, composed of tissues that perform similar functions. (1 of 6 organ definitions)
References
- language at OneLook Dictionary Search
- language in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
- language in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.
French language definition
Noun
language m (plural languages)
- Archaic spelling of langage.
Langage definition
language: word choice and usage (1 of 2 langage definitions)
Middle English language definition
Noun
language (plural languages)
- Alternative form of langage
Middle French language definition
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old French language.
Noun
language m (plural languages)
- language (style of communicating)
Language definition
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. (1 of 9 language definitions)
Related terms
Descendants
Old French language definition
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Vulgar Latin *linguāticum, from Classical Latin lingua (“tongue, language”).
Pronunciation
Noun
language f (oblique plural languages, nominative singular language, nominative plural languages)