language
Pronunciation Etymology 1
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Pronunciation Etymology 1
From Middle English langage, language, from Old French language, from Vulgar Latin *linguāticum, from Latin lingua, from itc-ola dingua, from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s.
Nounlanguage
(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 0913580856, 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.
- (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 […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC ↗:
- 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.
- legal language; the language of chemistry
- (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
- (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.
- (computing, countable) A computer language; a machine language.
- (uncountable) Manner of expression.
- 1782, William Cowper, Hope
- Their language simple, as their manners meek, […]
- 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.
- (uncountable) Profanity.
- (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
language (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, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC ↗:
- Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they have a double sense.
- An admonishment said in response to vulgar language.
- You're a pile of shit!
Hey! Language!
- You're a pile of shit!
Alteration of languet.
Nounlanguage (plural languages)
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