language

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.

1867, Report on the Systems of Deaf-Mute Instruction pursued in Europe, quoted in 1983 in History of the College for the Deaf, 1857-1907 →ISBN, page 240

No language could express his rage and despair.

1900, William Beckford, The History of the Caliph Vathek, page 50:

Mr. Darko, generally acknowledged to be the last surviving member of the Ofo Tribe, was also the last remaining speaker of the tribe's language.

2000, Geary Hobson, The Last of the Ofos, →ISBN, page 113:

Many of us have entertained the idea of expanding our horizons. Learning a foreign language is an obvious option.
It’s one that I would personally endorse: My individual circumstances were such that, by the age of 12, I could speak German, Greek and English, so languages became my passion and my hobby.

2021 April 25, John Malathronas, “Which languages are easiest – and most difficult – for native English speakers to learn?”, in CNN:

Muksin specifically mentioned 11 extinct indigenous languages, such as Tandia and Mawes in West Papua and Papua, along with Kajeli, Piru, Moksela, Palumata, Ternateno, Hukumina, Hoti, Serua, and Nila in different areas of Maluku.

2024 March 8, Antara, “11 Indigenous Languages Declared Extinct: Education Ministry”, in Jakarta Globe:

(countable) 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.

the gift of language

It is wholly out of the power of language to convey any idea of the blissful enjoyment of obtaining water, after an almost total want of it, during eight and forty hours, in the scorching regions of an Arabian desert, in the month of July.

1805 December, Julius Griffiths, “A Journey across the Desert”, in The Monthly Mirror, page 362:

Language is the articulation of the limited to express the unlimited; it is the ultimate mystery which is the image of God, for in breaking up infinity to create finite beings, God has found a way to let the limited being yet be a reflection of His unlimited Being.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 15:

(uncountable) The ability to communicate using words.

Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.

1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

And ‘blubbing’ . . . Blubbing went out with ‘decent’ and ‘ripping’. Mind you, not a bad new language to start up. 1920s schoolboy slang could be due for a revival.

1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section II, page 24:

legal language; the language of chemistry

(uncountable) A sublanguage: the slang of a particular community or jargon of a particular specialist field.

body language; the language of the eyes

A tale about themselves [is] told by people with help from the universal languages of their eyes, their hands, and even their shirting feet.

2001, Eugene C. Kennedy, Sara C. Charles, On Becoming a Counselor, →ISBN:

Birding had become like that for me. It is a language that, once learnt, I have been unable to unlearn.

2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 231:

(countable, uncountable, figurative) The expression of thought (the communication of meaning) in a specified way; that which communicates something, as language does.

A more likely hypothesis was that the attacked leaves were transmitting some airborne chemical signal to sound the alarm, rather like insects sending out warnings […] But this is the first time that a plant-to-plant language has been detected.

1983, The Listener, volume 110, page 14:

Prairie dogs use their language to refer to real dangers in the real world, so it definitely has meaning.

(countable, uncountable) A body of sounds, signs and/or signals by which animals communicate, and by which plants are sometimes also thought to communicate.

In fact pointers are called references in these languages to distinguish them from pointers in languages like C and C++.

2015, Kent D. Lee, Foundations of Programming Languages, →ISBN, page 94:

(computing, countable) A computer language; a machine language.

1782, William Cowper, Hope
Their language simple, as their manners meek, […]

The language used in the law does not permit any other interpretation.

The language he used to talk to me was obscene.

(uncountable) The particular words used in a speech or a passage of text.

"Where the hell is Horace?" ¶ "There he is. He's coming. You shouldn't use language."

1978, James Carroll, Mortal Friends, →ISBN, page 500:

en-noun

language (countable and uncountable, plural languages)

a language is a dialect with an army and navy

language analysis for the determination of origin

бызшва

body of words used as a form of communication

rekenaartaal

computer language — see also computer language

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.

der

/ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ/

[ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

[ˈlæːŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

[ˈlaŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

/ˈlaŋɡˌweːd͡ʑ/


language

Others were languaged in such doubtful expressions that they have a double sense.

1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):

(rare, now nonstandard or technical) To communicate by language; to express in language.

en-verb

language (third-person singular simple present languages, present participle languaging, simple past and past participle languaged)

languages (present singular third-person)
languaging (participle present)
languaged (participle past)
languaged (past)

/ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ/

[ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

[ˈlæːŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

[ˈlaŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

/ˈlaŋɡˌweːd͡ʑ/


language

You're a pile of shit!
Hey! Language!

An admonishment said in response to vulgar language.

/ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ/

[ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

[ˈlæːŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

[ˈlaŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

/ˈlaŋɡˌweːd͡ʑ/


language

A flue-pipe is one in which the air passes through the throat, or flue, which is the narrow, longitudinal aperture between the lower lip and the tongue, or language. […] The language is adjusted by slightly elevating or depressing it, […]

1896, William Horatio Clarke, The Organist's Retrospect, page 79:

A languet, a flat plate in or below the flue pipe of an organ.

/ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ/

[ˈlæŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

[ˈlæːŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

[ˈlaŋɡwɪd͡ʒ]

/ˈlaŋɡˌweːd͡ʑ/


language

languages (plural)
langage (alternative)
langaige (alternative)
languaige (alternative)

desctree

French: langage, language (archaic or misspelling)
Haitian Creole: langaj
→ English: langaj
Mauritian Creole: langaz
Louisiana Creole: langaj
→ Romanian: limbaj (partial calque)


language

fro-noun

language oblique singular, f (oblique plural languages, nominative singular language, nominative plural languages)

language oblique singular or (canonical feminine)
languages (oblique plural)
language (nominative singular)
languages (nominative plural)

Bourguignon: langaige

desctree

Middle French: language, langage, langaige, languaige
French: langage, language (archaic or misspelling)
Haitian Creole: langaj
→ English: langaj
Mauritian Creole: langaz
Louisiana Creole: langaj
→ Romanian: limbaj (partial calque)

→ Middle English: langage, language, langag, langwache
English: language

→ Friulian: lengaç

→ Ladin: lingaz

→ Medieval Latin: linguāgium

desc

→ Romansch: linguatg, lungatg (Sursilvan, Surmiran), lungaitg (Sutsilvan), linguach (Puter, Vallader)

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *linguāticum. Attested in the Passion. Derivable from langue + -age.