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Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary lan·guage ETYMOLOGY Middle English, from Anglo-French langage, from lange, langue tongue, language, from Latin lingua — more at tongue DATE 14th century 1. a. the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community b. (1) audible, articulate, meaningful sound as produced by the action of the vocal organs (2) a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (3) the suggestion by objects, actions, or conditions of associated ideas or feelings language in their very gesture — Shakespeare (4) the means by which animals communicate (5) a formal system of signs and symbols (as FORTRAN or a calculus in logic) including rules for the formation and transformation of admissible expressions (6) machine language 1 2. a. form or manner of verbal expression; specifically : style b. the vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or a department of knowledge c. profanity 3. the study of language especially as a school subject 4. specific words especially in a law or regulation added language prohibiting further development along the river English Etymology language late 13c., from O.Fr . langage (12c.), from V.L. *linguaticum, from L. lingua "tongue," also "speech, language" (see lingual).http://O.Fr Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary-牛津双解-OALD7 ☞ language lan·guage / 5lAN^widV / nounOF A COUNTRY 国家 1. [C] the system of communication in speech and writing that is used by people of a particular country or area 语言: the Japanese language 日语 It takes a long time to learn to speak a language well. 学会说好一种语言需要花很长的时间。 Italian is my first language. 意大利语是我的母语。 All the children must learn a foreign language. 所有的儿童必须学一门外语。 She has a good command of the Spanish language. 她精通西班牙语。 a qualification in language teaching 语言教学的资格 They fell in love in spite of the language barrier (= the difficulty of communicating when people speak different languages). 尽管有语言障碍,他们还是相爱了。 Why study Latin? It's a dead language (= no longer spoken by anyone). 为什么学拉丁语？它已经不再通用了。 Is English an official language in your country? 英语在你们国家是官方语言吗？ ⇨ see also modern language COMMUNICATION 交际 2. [U] the use by humans of a system of sounds and words to communicate 言语；说话；语言: theories about the origins of language 有关语言起源的理论 a study of language acquisition in two-year-olds 对两岁儿童语言习得的研究 STYLE OF SPEAKING / WRITING 口语/书面语的风格 3. [U] a particular style of speaking or writing 某种类型的言语(或语言): bad / foul / strong language (= words that people may consider offensive) 脏/粗 / 骂人话 literary / poetic language 文学/诗歌语言 the language of the legal profession 法律专业用语 Give your instructions in everyday language. 用通俗的语言发布指令。 ⇨ see also bad language MOVEMENTS / SYMBOLS / SOUND 动作；符号；声音 4. [C, U] a way of expressing ideas and feelings using movements, symbols and sound (用动作、符号和语音来表达思想感情的)表达方式,交际方式: the language of mime 哑剧的手势语 the language of dolphins / bees 海豚/蜜蜂的交流方式 ⇨ see also body language , sign language COMPUTING 计算机技术 5. [C, U] a system of symbols and rules that is used to operate a computer 计算机语言: a programming language 程序设计语言 IDIOMS ▪ mind / watch your 'language to be careful about what you say in order not to upset or offend sb 谨慎措辞；留神言辞: Watch your language, young man! 年轻人,注意你的言谈！ ▪ speak / talk the same 'language to be able to communicate easily with another person because you share similar opinions and experience (因意见和经历相似)能容易地沟通,说得来,有共同语言 Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English language noun 1 system of communication ADJ. first, native She grew up in Spain, so her first language is Spanish. | foreign, second How many foreign languages does she speak? the teaching of English as a second language | original Most local cinemas show films in the original language, with German subtitles. | source, target (both technical) | ancient, classical, dead Latin is a dead language. | modern | common, shared | indigenous, local | official Belgium has two official languages. | national Portuguese is the national language of Brazil. | international | minority Some minority languages are dying out. | spoken, written She could speak some Chinese, but never studied the written language. | colloquial, everyday, informal | formal | flowery, literary, poetic | racist, sexist | sign Not all deaf people use sign language. | body, non-verbal You could tell from his body language that he was very embarrassed. | legal, technical, etc. | computer, programming VERB + LANGUAGE speak | understand | use | learn, study | master | be couched in, be expressed in | enrich idiomatic expressions that enrich the language LANGUAGE + NOUN acquisition, learning new methods of language learning | course, lesson PREP. in … ~ His letter was couched in very formal language. PHRASES command/knowledge/mastery of (a) language Her command of language is very advanced for a six-year-old. | use of language The writer's use of language reflects the personality of each character. 2 offensive words ADJ. bad, crude, foul, obscene, offensive, strong using foul language VERB + LANGUAGE use | mind, watch The referee warned the players to mind their language. • Note at LANGUAGE Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus-11th Edition n. Function: noun 1 a body or system of words and phrases used by a large community or by a people, a nation, or a group of nations FF1C;the English and French languagesFF1E; Synonyms: dialect, idiom, speech, tongue, vernacular Related Words: argot, cant, jargon, lingo, patois, slang 2 Synonyms: TERMINOLOGY , cant, dictionary, jargon, lexicon, palaver, vocabularyWebster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged lan·guage I. \ˈlaŋgwij, ˈlaiŋ-, -wēj sometimes -ŋw-\ noun (-s) Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English langage, language, from Old French, from langue tongue, language (from Latin lingua) + -age — more at tongue 1. : the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a considerable community and established by long usage < French language > < Bantu group of languages > < classical Latin is a dead language > < language barrier between two countries > 2. a. : audible, articulate, meaningful sound as produced by the action of the vocal organs b. : a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings < finger language > < language of flowers > < language of painting > < mathematics is a universally understood language > c. : an artificially constructed primarily formal system of signs and symbols (as symbolic logic) including rules for the formation of admissible expressions and for their transformation — compare metalanguage , object language, physical language, sense-datum language, thing-language d. : the means by which animals communicate or are thought to communicate with each other < language of the birds > < dog language > 3. a. : the faculty of verbal expression and the use of words in human intercourse < language exists only when it is listened to as well as spoken — John Dewey > : significant communication b. archaic : the faculty of speech; especially : ability to speak a foreign tongue 4. : a special manner of use of expression: as a. : form or manner of verbal expression < elegant language > : characteristic mode of expression of an individual speaker or writer : style < figurative language > b. : the vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or department of knowledge < legal language > < language of chemistry > < language of diplomacy > < a deep-voiced six-footer who talks the farmer's language — Time > c. : abusive epithets : profanity < shouldn't of blamed the fellers if they'd cut loose with some language — Ring Lardner > 5. obsolete : talk ; especially : censure , abuse < safely venture to hold language — T.B.Macaulay > 6. a. archaic : a people or nation as distinguished by its speech < all the people, the nations, and the language, fell down and worshiped the golden image — Dan 3: 7(Authorized Version) > b. : a national division of an international order < language of Aragon of the Hospitalers > Synonyms: tongue , speech , idiom , dialect : language is likely to indicate a more general and established and less specific and individual means of communication < English and French are languages, that is to say they are systems of habits of speech, exactly like Eskimo or Hottentot or any other language — R.A.Hall b. 1911 > < the noble language of Milton and Burke would have remained a rustic dialect, without a literature, a fixed grammar, or a fixed orthography — T.B.Macaulay > tongue may suggest a more specific and narrowed concept than language < a common language was the ancestor of both of these tongues [English and German] — Publ's Mod. Lang. Association of American > speech may call attention to the spoken rather than the written communication < they argued, corresponded, delivered speeches, made jokes, and wrote satires in Latin. It was not a dead language but a living speech — Gilbert Highet > idiom may suggest the more individual, specific, peculiar, and different from the general < the French-English idiom of Louisiana as Mr. Cable presents it; the Negro-English idiom of the upper South as Mr. Harris presents it — A.J.Nock > < returning to the idiom of the Icelandic saga and to the metric of Langland — C.D.Lewis > dialect may refer to a variant of a language, especially one restricted to a limited area and one not entirely unintelligible to speakers of the language of which it is a phase < the situation with regard to the American Indian languages, with many tribes speaking apparently unrelated languages which are in turn subdivided into dialects, is extremely complex — Thomas Pyles > < this language was once a dialect developed from a language which may be reconstructed from the historic tongues, and which is conventionally termed Proto-Teutonic — L.H.Gray > In general literary use these terms are often interchangeable < from her early years she must have treasured up those pithy bits of local speech, of native idiom, which enrich and enliven her pages. The language her people speak to each other is a native tongue — Willa Cather > II. transitive verb (-ed/-ing/-s) dialect : to express in language III. noun (-s) Etymology: by folk etymology from languet : languet 2aIV. noun : machine language herein |
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