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
As the young children enthusiastically sang out phrases, Esau interjected occasionally to correct their pronunciation of the distinct sounds and deep clicks of her mother tongue, of which she is the last first-language speaker.
From Barron's • Oct. 10, 2025
He also dropped English as the primary language for his literature and vowed to only write in his mother tongue, Kikuyu.
From BBC • May 28, 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
