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.

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.

Example Sentences

• "The English and German languages are both members of the West Germanic language family."
• "Deaf and mute people communicate using sign language."
• "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."

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