“languages” is a form of
language
/ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪd͡ʒ/ noun, verb, interjection
Forms languages languaging languaged
- noun (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 and German languages are both members of the West Germanic language family.”
- noun (uncountable) The ability to communicate using words. “the gift of language”
- noun (uncountable) A sublanguage: the slang of a particular community or jargon of a particular specialist field. “legal language; the language of chemistry”
- noun (uncountable) The specific wording or style of a text, such as a law or a contract.
- noun (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”
- noun (countable, uncountable) A body of sounds, signs or signals by which animals communicate, and by which plants are sometimes also thought to communicate.
- noun (computing, countable) A computer language; a machine language.
- noun (uncountable) A manner of expression.
- verb (rare, now nonstandard or technical) To communicate by language; to express in language.
- interjection An admonishment said in response to someone using vulgar language during a conversation.
- noun A languet, a flat plate in or below the flue pipe of an organ.
Synonyms
jargon wording computer language programming language machine language leid lingo speech tongue linguistic communication speech communication spoken communication spoken language voice communication oral communication lyric words linguistic process terminology nomenclature
Etymology
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”). Doublet of langaj. Displaced native Old English ġeþēode.
Alteration of languet.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any means of conveying or communicating ideas; specifically, human speech; the expression of ideas by the voice; sounds, expressive of thought, articulated by the organs of the throat and mouth.
- noun The expression of ideas by writing, or any other instrumentality.
- verb To communicate by language; to express in language.
Etymology [OE. langage, F. langage, fr. L. lingua the tongue, hence speech, language; akin to E. tongue. See Tongue, cf. Lingual.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “language”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details