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Examples of mother tongue in a Sentence
although the anthropologist could speak the local language fairly well, she was always glad to find someone who shared her mother tongue
Recent Examples on the Web
This suggested, startlingly, that birds could learn a literal mother tongue while still in ovo.
—Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2024
The font on the album cover is a play on the Geʽez script used in Amharic, her mother tongue.
—Mankaprr Conteh, Rolling Stone, 20 Sep. 2024
Who among us doesn’t feel — either occasionally or always — like social codes are a chaotic second language that other people were born speaking like a mother tongue?
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 10 Sep. 2024
And when this Medellín native greets me in his mother tongue, the melody of his voice is nearly as tender as his ballads.
—Patricia Alfonso Tortolani, Allure, 23 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for mother tongue
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mother tongue.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of mother tongue was
in the 14th century
Dictionary Entries Near mother tongue
Cite this Entry
“Mother tongue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mother%20tongue. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.
Kids Definition
mother tongue
noun1
: one's native language
2
: a language from which another language develops
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