tongue-tied

See also: tonguetied

English

WOTD – 12 November 2021

Etymology

A person who is tongue-tied (sense 1) or has ankyloglossia.

From tongue + tied (“restricted”, adjective).^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtʌŋtaɪd/

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

tongue-tied (comparative more tongue-tied, superlative most tongue-tied)

1. (pathology) Having tongue-tie or ankyloglossia (“a congenital oral anomaly in which the lingual frenulum (a membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth) is unusually short and thick, decreasing mobility of the tongue and affecting eating, speech, etc.”).
2. (figuratively)
   1. Prevented from or unable to express oneself clearly or fluently, or freely; at a loss for words, speechless.
      • 1571, John Calvin, “[Commentary on Psalm 3:5]”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Psalmes of Dauid and Others. With M. Iohn Caluin’s Commentaries, London: […] Thomas East and Henry Middelton; for Lucas Harison, and G[e]orge Byshop, →OCLC, 1st part, folio 8, verso, column 1:

        But it ſeemes to mee that Dauid meeneth cheefly, that among the blaſphemies of his foes wherewith they endeuered too ouerwhelme hys Faythe, he himſelfe was not tungtyde: but rather lifted vp his voyce vnto God, whom the vngodly ſurmiſed to haue bin turned against him.

      • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 85”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […]‎, London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

        My toung-tide Muſe in manners holds her ſtill, / While comments of your praiſe richly compil'd, / Reſerue their Character with goulden quill, / And precious phraſe by all the Muſes fil'd.

      • 1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book X]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC, page 297:

        […] Appius [Claudius Caecus] in trumping and taunting manner, gave out and ſaid, That they vvere beholden to him, and might con^{[sic – meaning on?]} him thank, that of a dumb and tongue-tied Conſul they had one novv, that vvas ſo ready and eloquent: […]

      • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Life of Æsop.] Of Æsop’s Countrey, Condition, and Person”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 1:

        And he [Aesop] was not only Unhappy in the moſt ſcandalous Figure of a Man that ever was heard of; but he was in a manner Tongue-Ty'd too, by ſuch an Impediment in his ſpeech, that People could very hardly underſtand what he ſaid.

      • 1927, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, “Shyness My Shield”, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume I, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC, part I, page 146:

        I was elected to the Executive Committee of the Vegetarian Society, and made it a point to attend every one of its meetings, but I always felt tongue-tied. […] And it was not a little curious that whilst others expressed their opinions at these meetings, I sat quite silent. Not that I never felt tempted to speak. But I was at a loss to know how to express myself.

   2. Reluctant to speak up; reserved, reticent.
      • 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “End of the Flight: We Pass the Forth”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 269:

        I was all this while chafing at the part I played, and sitting tongue-tied between shame and merriment; but somehow at this I could hold in no longer, and bade Alan let me be, for I was better already.

   3. (chiefly poetic) Physically unable to speak; dumb, mute.

Related terms

• tongue tie, tongue-tie

Translations

suffering from tongue-tie or ankyloglossia

Maori: arero whīwhiwhi Swedish: tunghäfta c (noun)

physically unable to speak — see dumb,‎ mute

unable to express oneself clearly or fluently — see also at a loss for words,‎ speechless

Finnish: kieli solmussa French: sans voix (fr) Georgian: ბლუ (blu) German: Sprachlos Japanese: 口籠もった (くちごもった, kuchigomotta) Latin: ēlinguis (la) Maori: arero whīwhiwhi, whīwhiwhi te arero Romanian: încuiat (ro) Russian: косноязы́чный (ru) (kosnojazýčnyj) Swedish: tunghäfta c (noun)

reluctant to speak up — see reserved,‎ reticent

See also

• cat got your tongue
• on the tip of one's tongue

Verb

tongue-tied

1. simple past and past participle of tongue-tie

References

1. “tongue-tied, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2021; “tongue-tied, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.