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File:Dog licking nose.jpg

The tongue is the large bundle of muscles on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food for chewing and swallowing. It is one of the organs of taste. Much of the surface of the tongue is covered in taste buds. The tongue assists in forming the sounds of speech, and also plays a major role in sexuality, such as in the french kiss and oral sex.

The word tongue can be used as a synonym for language, e.g., as in the phrase mother tongue.

It is also examined and observed diagnostically in traditional Chinese medicine.

The tongue is made mainly of skeletal muscle and attached to the hyoid bone, mandible and the styloid processes of the temporal bone.

The muscles that attach the tongue are the extrinsic muscles of the tongue. Inside the tongue, there are four pairs of intrinsic muscles that can alter the shape of the tongue for talking and swallowing. Since it contains no supporting skeletal structures for the muscles, the tongue is an example of a muscular hydrostat, like an octopus arm.

The dorsum (top side) of the tongue can be divided into two parts, a pharyngeal part (posterior third of the tongue), which faces backward to the oropharynx, and an oral part (anterior two-thirds of the tongue) that lies mostly in the mouth. The two parts are separated by a V-shaped groove, which marks the sulcus terminalis (or terminal sulcus).

The oral part of the tongue is covered with small bumpy projections called papillae. There are four types of papillae: filiform (thread-shape), fungiform (mushroom-shape), foliate (leaf-shape), and vallate (ringed-circle). All papillae except the filiform have taste buds on their surface. The vallate are the largest of the papillae. There are 8 to 14 vallate papillae arranged in a V-shape in front of the sulcus terminalis, creating a border between the oral and pharyngeal parts of the tongue.

Taste from the oral part (anterior two-thirds) of the tongue is provided by Cranial Nerve VII, the Facial Nerve via the chorda tympani. Taste and somatic sensation from the posterior third of the tongue is provided by Cranial Nerve IX, the Glossopharyngeal Nerve.



Items relating to the tongue are often called lingual, which comes from the Latin word, or glossal, which comes from the Greek word for tongue.

The tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body proportional to size.

Intrinsic muscles of the tongue

Four pairs of muscles originate within the tongue, and run in parallel down its length.

  • The superior longitudinal muscle runs along the superior surface of the tongue under the mucous membrane, and elevates, assists in retraction of, or deviates the tip of the tongue. It originates near the epiglottis, the hyoid bone, from the median fibrous septum; and is controlled by the XII hypoglossal nerve.

White tongue


Secondary Uses



The tongue is also one of the more common parts of the human anatomy to be subject to piercing and body modification, a phenomenon that is sometimes associated with certain subcultures or demographics. Tongue piercing has appeared historically in many ancient cultures, and is an increasingly popular trend today, particularly in high schools and on campuses. Pop culture references to tongue piercings are common as well.


The human tongue also plays a valuable role in other acts, such as for blowing bubbles with bubble gum, and whistling.

Tongue Rolling

The act of tongue rolling describes one's ability to roll the tongue into a "hollow tube". The ability to roll the tongue is actually incumbent on genetic inheritance. Tongue rolling is thus a commonly explored experiment in highschool and introductory biology courses, as students examine it as a demonstrative concept for inheritance and in the initial understanding of genotypes and phenotypes.

As a Food

The tongues of some animals are consumed and sometimes even considered delicacies. In America, cow tongues are among the more common, and can often be found at the local grocer. Tongues are also used in sausage making. Historically, buffalo tongue was once considered an especially exquisite dish, and is one of the reasons for the American Bison being subsequently hunted by humans to the point of near extinction.


Stephen Taylor holds the world record for the world's longest tongue. It measures 9.4 centimeters from the tip to the center of his closed top lip.

See also

Sensory system - Gustatory system - edit
Tongue | Taste bud | Gustatory cortex | Basic tastes
cs:Jazyk (orgán)

cy:Tafod da:Tunge de:Zunge es:Lengua (anatomía) eo:Lango (anatomio) fi:Kieli (anatomia) fr:Langue (anatomie) he:לשון (איבר)lt:Liežuvis hu:Nyelv (testrész) mk:Јазик (биологија) nl:Tong (anatomie)pt:Língua ru:Язык (анатомия) sk:Jazyk (orgán) sv:Tunga


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