mother tongue
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He dropped his English name, James, and resolved to write only in the language of the Kikuyu people, his mother tongue.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025
It just created this real, almost, like, subconscious intimacy because it’s the mother tongue.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2025
The now-defunct programme was launched by former Education Minister Adamu Adamu, who had argued that children learnt more effectively in their mother tongue.
From BBC • Nov. 13, 2025
For Esau, not being able to speak her mother tongue was "a wound".
From Barron's • Oct. 10, 2025
Finally, he must have thought, after all these decades, his mother tongue, Afrikaans, was on its way to supplanting English as the language of the land.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
