first language

Noun

Meaning

one's native language; the language learned by children and passed from one generation to the next

Source: WordNet

Synonyms

mother tongue maternal language language dialect vernacular lingua franca source language native language indigenous language native tongue parent language mother language home language native speech commonly spoken language
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Antonyms

foreign language second language complete silence absolute silence written statement not widely spoken language
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Hypernyms

tongue natural language

Examples

Touch comes before sight, before speech. It is the first language and the last, and it always tells the truth. Margaret Atwood

My first language is Gaelic. Enya

My dad is a minister, and my mum is a worker with the less fortunate and the disabled. They're Nigerian natives. Their first language is Yoruba, and their second language is English. John Boyega

I think I am less self-assured when I write English than I would be if I were writing in my first language. I have to test each sentence over and over to be sure that it's right, that I haven't introduced some element that isn't English. Louis Begley

I grew up in France, my first language was French, and I tend to gravitate towards French cooking. Robert Stack

Somebody said to me that I speak English almost like somebody for whom English is not their first language. Christopher Walken

Close letter words and terms

First Lady of the Land First Lady of the Republic First Lady of the United States first language speaker first languages First Lateran Council