Zunge
German
Etymology
From Old High German zunga, from Proto-Germanic *tungǭ; from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (“tongue”).
Germanic Cognates include Old Saxon tunga, Low German Tung, Old Dutch tunga, Dutch tong, Old English tunge (Modern English tongue), West Frisian tonge, Old Norse tunga (> Swedish tunga, Faroese tunga, Norwegian tunge, Swedish tunga, Danish tunge) and Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍉 (tuggō).
Non-Germanic-Cognates with identical meaning include Irish teanga, Welsh tafod, Latin lingua (> Portuguese língua, Spanish lengua, Catalan llengua, French langue, Italian lingua, Romanian limbă), Armenian լեզու (lezu), Lithuanian liežùvis, Sanskrit जिह्वा (jihvā́), Persian زبان (zabân), Proto-Slavic *(j)ęzykъ (> Czech jazyk, Polish język, Russian язы́к (jazýk), Serbo-Croatian јѐзик, Bulgarian ези́к (ezík)).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtsʊŋə/
audio (file)
Noun
Zunge f (genitive Zunge, plural Zungen, diminutive Zünglein n or Züngelchen n)
- tongue (organ in the mouth)
- tongue (flap in a shoe)
Declension
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indef. | def. | noun | def. | noun | |
| nominative | eine | die | Zunge | die | Zungen |
| genitive | einer | der | Zunge | der | Zungen |
| dative | einer | der | Zunge | den | Zungen |
| accusative | eine | die | Zunge | die | Zungen |
Derived terms
- (Compounds) Zungenbrecher, Zungenfehler, zungenförmig, Zungenkuss, Zungenlaut, Zungen-R, Zungenspitzen-R, Zungenrückenlaut, Zungenschlag, Zungenspitze, Zungenspitzenlaut, Zungenwurzel
Related terms
- Züngelchen
- -züngig
- Zünglein
Further reading
- Zunge in Duden online
Pennsylvania German
Noun
Zunge
- plural of Zung