mother tongue

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈmʌð.ə ˌtʌŋ/
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• General-American: /ˈmʌð.ɚ ˌtʌŋ/
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• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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From Middle English mother tonge, modyr tong, equivalent to mother + tongue. Compare Old Norse móðurtunga (“mother tongue”).

175 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: moedertaal — one's native tongue
• Afrikaans: huistaal — one's native tongue
• Albanian: gjuhë nëne — one's native tongue
• Albanian: gjuhë amtare — one's native tongue
• Arabic: لُغَة أُمّ (luḡat ʔumm) — one's native tongue
• Arabic: لُغَة قَوْمِيَّة (luḡa qawmiyya) — one's native tongue
• Arabic: لُغَة أُولَى (luḡa ʔūlā) — one's native tongue
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܠܸܫܵܢܵܐ ܐܸܡܗܵܝܵܐ (liššānā imhāyā) — one's native tongue
• Armenian: մայրենի լեզու (mayreni lezu) — one's native tongue
• Asturian: llingua materna — one's native tongue
• Azerbaijani: ana dili — one's native tongue
• Azerbaijani: آنا دیلی — one's native tongue
• Bashkir: туған тел (tuğan tel) — one's native tongue
• Basque: ama-hizkuntza — one's native tongue
• Belarusian: ро́дная мо́ва (ródnaja móva) — one's native tongue
• Bengali: মাতৃভাষা (matribhaśa) — one's native tongue
• Breton: mammyezh — one's native tongue
• Breton: yezh vamm — one's native tongue
• Bulgarian: ро́ден ези́к (róden ezík) — one's native tongue
• Bulgarian: ма́йчин ези́к (májčin ezík) — one's native tongue
• Burmese: မိခင်ဘာသာစကား (mi.hkangbhasaca.ka:) — one's native tongue
• Burmese: အမိဘာသာစကား (a.mi.bhasaca.ka:) — one's native tongue
• Carpathian Rusyn: материньскый язык (materynʹskŷj jazŷk) — one's native tongue
• Catalan: llengua materna — one's native tongue
• Catalan: llengua nativa — one's native tongue
• Cherokee: ᎤᏂᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ (uniwonihisdi) — one's native tongue
• Chinese Cantonese: 母語 /母语 (mou5 jyu5) — one's native tongue
• Hakka Chinese: 阿姆話 /阿姆话 (â-mê-fa) — one's native tongue
• Chinese: 母語 /母语 (zh-min-nan) — one's native tongue
• Chinese Mandarin: 母語 /母语 (mǔyǔ) — one's native tongue
• Chinese Mandarin: 本族語 /本族语 (běnzúyǔ) — one's native tongue
• Cornish: mammyeth — one's native tongue
• Cornish: yeth vamm — one's native tongue
• Crimean Tatar: ana til — one's native tongue
• Czech: mateřský jazyk — one's native tongue
• Czech: rodný jazyk — one's native tongue
• Czech: mateřština — one's native tongue
• Danish: modersmål — one's native tongue
• Dolgan: төрөөбүт тыл (törööbüt tıl) — one's native tongue
• Dutch: moedertaal — one's native tongue
• Dutch: moerstaal — one's native tongue
• Esperanto: hejmlingvo — one's native tongue
• Estonian: emakeel — one's native tongue
• Faroese: móðurmál — one's native tongue
• Finnish: äidinkieli — one's native tongue
• French: langue maternelle — one's native tongue
• Friulian: marilenghe — one's native tongue
• Galician: lingua materna — one's native tongue
• Georgian: მშობლიური ენა (mšobliuri ena) — one's native tongue
• Georgian: დედაენა (dedaena) — one's native tongue
• German: Muttersprache — one's native tongue
• German: Erstsprache — one's native tongue
• German: Mueterspraach — one's native tongue
• Greek: μητρική γλώσσα (mitrikí glóssa) — one's native tongue
• Gujarati: માતૃભાષા (mātŕbhāṣā) — one's native tongue
• Hebrew: שְׂפַת אֵם (s'fat 'ém) — one's native tongue
• Hindi: मातृभाषा (mātŕbhāṣā) — one's native tongue
• Hindi: मादरी ज़बान (mādrī zabān) — one's native tongue
• Hungarian: anyanyelv — one's native tongue
• Hunsrik: Muttersproch — one's native tongue
• Icelandic: móðurmál — one's native tongue
• Ido: matrala linguo — one's native tongue
• Indonesian: bahasa ibu — one's native tongue
• Irish: máthairtheanga — one's native tongue
• Irish: teanga dhúchais — one's native tongue
• Italian: madrelingua — one's native tongue
• Japanese: 母語 (bogo) — one's native tongue
• Japanese: 母国語 (bokokugo) — one's native tongue
• Japanese: 自国語 (jikokugo) — one's native tongue
• Kalmyk: төрскн келн (törskn keln) — one's native tongue
• Kannada: ಮಾತೃಭಾಷೆ (mātṛbhāṣe) — one's native tongue
• Kashubian: rodnô mòwa — one's native tongue
• Kashmiri: ماجہِ زؠو (māji zyav) — one's native tongue
• Kazakh: ана тілі (ana tılı) — one's native tongue
• Khmer: ភាសាកំណើត (phiəsaa kɑmnaət) — one's native tongue
• Korean: 모어 (mo'eo) — one's native tongue
• Korean: 모국어 (mogugeo) — one's native tongue
• Northern Kurdish: zimanê maderî — one's native tongue
• Northern Kurdish: zimanê zikmakî — one's native tongue
• Northern Kurdish: zimanê bavkalan — one's native tongue
• Kyrgyz: эне тили (ene tili) — one's native tongue
• Lao: ພາສາແມ່ (phā sā mǣ) — one's native tongue
• Latvian: dzimtā valoda — one's native tongue
• Lezgi: дидед чӏал (dided č̣al) — one's native tongue
• Lithuanian: gimtoji kalba — one's native tongue
• Livonian: jemākēļ — one's native tongue
• Low German: Modersprak — one's native tongue
• Low German: Modersprake — one's native tongue
• Low German: Moodersprak — one's native tongue
• Low German: Muddersprak — one's native tongue
• Middle Low German: Mōdersprāke — one's native tongue
• Luxembourgish: Mammesprooch — one's native tongue
• Macedonian: ма́јчин ја́зик (májčin jázik) — one's native tongue
• Malay: bahasa ibunda — one's native tongue
• Maltese: ilsien matern — one's native tongue
• Manchu: ᠨᡳᠶᠠᠮᠠᠩᡤᠠ ᡤᡳᠰᡠᠨ (niyamangga gisun) — one's native tongue
• Manx: çhengey ny mayrey — one's native tongue
• Māori: reo ūkaipō — one's native tongue
• Marathi: मातृभाषा (mātŕbhāṣā) — one's native tongue
• Marathi: मायबोली (māybolī) — one's native tongue
• Mongolian: төрөлх хэл (törölx xel) — one's native tongue
• Mongolian: эх хэл (ex xel) — one's native tongue
• Norwegian Bokmål: morsmål — one's native tongue
• Norwegian Nynorsk: morsmål — one's native tongue
• Occitan: lenguo maire — one's native tongue
• Odia: ମାତୃଭାଷା (Mātṛubhāshā) — one's native tongue
• Pannonian Rusyn: мацерински язик (macerinski jazik) — one's native tongue
• Pashto: مورنۍ ژبه (moranǝy žǝba) — one's native tongue
• Persian: زبان مادری (zabân-e mâdari) — one's native tongue
• Polish: język ojczysty — one's native tongue
• Portuguese: língua materna — one's native tongue
• Portuguese: língua nativa — one's native tongue
• Punjabi: ਮਾਂ ਬੋਲੀ (mā̃ bolī) — one's native tongue
• Punjabi: ماں بولِی (māṉ bolī) — one's native tongue
• Punjabi: مات بولِی (māt bolī) — one's native tongue
• Romanian: limbă maternă — one's native tongue
• Romanian: limbă nativă — one's native tongue
• Romanian: limbă natală — one's native tongue
• Russian: родно́й язы́к (rodnój jazýk) — one's native tongue
• Russian: родна́я речь (rodnája rečʹ) — one's native tongue
• Northern Sami: eatnigiella — one's native tongue
• Scots: mither tongue — one's native tongue
• Scottish Gaelic: cànan màthaireil — one's native tongue
• Scottish Gaelic: cainnt mhàthaireil — one's native tongue
• Serbo-Croatian: матерњи језик — one's native tongue
• Serbo-Croatian: материњи језик — one's native tongue
• Serbo-Croatian: матерински језик — one's native tongue
• Serbo-Croatian: maternji jezik — one's native tongue
• Serbo-Croatian: materinji jezik — one's native tongue
• Serbo-Croatian: materinski jezik — one's native tongue
• Shor: туған тили (tuğan tili) — one's native tongue
• Sinhalese: මවු බස (mawu basa) — one's native tongue
• Slovak: materinský jazyk — one's native tongue
• Slovak: rodný jazyk — one's native tongue
• Slovak: materinská reč — one's native tongue
• Slovene: máterni jêzik — one's native tongue
• Slovene: materinščina — one's native tongue
• Lower Sorbian: maśeršćina — one's native tongue
• Upper Sorbian: maćeršćina — one's native tongue
• Upper Sorbian: maćerna rěč — one's native tongue
• Spanish: lengua materna — one's native tongue
• Spanish: lengua nativa — one's native tongue
• Spanish: lengua natal — one's native tongue
• Swahili: lugha ya mama — one's native tongue
• Swedish: modersmål — one's native tongue
• Tagalog: inang-wika — one's native tongue
• Tagalog: katutubong wika — one's native tongue
• Tagalog: inang wika — one's native tongue
• Tajik: забони модарӣ (zabon-i modari) — one's native tongue
• Tamil: தாய்மொழி (tāymoḻi) — one's native tongue
• Tamil: தாய் மொழி (tāy moḻi) — one's native tongue
• Tatar: туган тел (tuğan tel) — one's native tongue
• Tatar: ана теле (ana tele) — one's native tongue
• Telugu: దేశభాష (dēśabhāṣa) — one's native tongue
• Telugu: మాతృ భాష (mātr̥ bhāṣa) — one's native tongue
• Thai: ภาษาแม่ (paa-sǎa-mɛ̂ɛ) — one's native tongue
• Tigrinya: ቋንቋ ኣደ (ḳwanḳwa ʾadä) — one's native tongue
• Turkish: ana dili — one's native tongue
• Turkmen: ene dili — one's native tongue
• Udmurt: анай кыл (anaj kyl) — one's native tongue
• Ukrainian: рі́дна мо́ва (rídna móva) — one's native tongue
• Urdu: مادری زبان (mādrī zubān) — one's native tongue
• Uyghur: ئانا تىل (ana til) — one's native tongue
• Uyghur: ئانا تىلى (ana tili) — one's native tongue
• Uzbek: ona tili — one's native tongue
• Vietnamese: tiếng mẹ đẻ — one's native tongue
• Vietnamese: ngôn ngữ mẹ đẻ — one's native tongue
• Vietnamese: ngôn ngữ đầu tiên — one's native tongue
• Volapük: motapük — one's native tongue
• Volapük: lomapük — one's native tongue
• Walloon: lingaedje del mame — one's native tongue
• Welsh: mamiaith — one's native tongue
• Yiddish: מאַמע־לשון (mame-loshn) — one's native tongue
• Yiddish: מוטער־שפּראַך (muter-shprakh) — one's native tongue
• Zhuang: vahcoj — one's native tongue