How to Pronounce Tongue

"Tongue" is not spelled the way it sounds. Its pronunciation is /ˈtəŋ/ in IPA and it has one syllable. Tap play below to hear it in four English accents — the audio is the reliable guide for a word like this.

tongue

Tap to hear · American accent

Accent

If an accent sounds the same, your device is missing that voice — it falls back to the closest one.

Speed

Practice: Record & Compare

Record yourself saying tongue, then compare with the target. Your audio stays on this device — nothing is uploaded.

1

Syllable

6

Letters

/ˈtəŋ/

🇺🇸 IPA (US)

/tˈʌŋ/

🇬🇧 IPA (UK)

💡 Tip for remembering “tongue”

"tongue" is a single-syllable word — say it in one clean beat.

What does tongue mean?

noun

  1. The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech.
  2. This organ, as taken from animals used for food (especially cows).−

    “cold tongue with mustard”

verb

  1. On a wind instrument, to articulate a note by starting the air with a tap of the tongue, as though by speaking a 'd' or 't' sound (alveolar plosive).

    “Playing wind instruments involves tonguing on the reed or mouthpiece.”

  2. To manipulate with the tongue, as in kissing or oral sex.

Synonyms

idiomlanguagelingospeaking in tongues

Keep practicing

Related pages on PronounceIt, chosen from what we know about this word.

Train the contrast: sing vs sin

Sounds worth drilling for a word spelled like this:

/ŋ/ — ng/ə/ — schwa/ɒ/ — short o

Read next: Long and Short Vowel Sounds in English

Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce "tongue"?▾

"Tongue" is not spelled the way it sounds. Its pronunciation is /ˈtəŋ/ in IPA and it has one syllable. Tap play below to hear it in four English accents — the audio is the reliable guide for a word like this.

How many syllables are in "tongue"?▾

"Tongue" has one syllable.

What is the IPA transcription of "tongue"?▾

The IPA transcription of "tongue" is /ˈtəŋ/.

What does "tongue" mean?▾

Tongue: The flexible muscular organ in the mouth that is used to move food around, for tasting and that is moved into various positions to modify the flow of air from the lungs in order to produce different sounds in speech.

Want the definition, translations into 8 languages, and read-aloud for full sentences?

Open “tongue” in the full dictionary →