Word.ws English Dictionary

tonguy

tonguy is the alternative form of tonguey.

Meaning of tonguey

Adjective

tonguey (comparative tonguier or more tonguey, superlative tonguiest or most tonguey)

  1. Tending to talk a lot; fluent or voluble in speech (generally with an unfavourable connotation).
    • Seeing then he is now so mute, that before was so tonguy […]1608, Philip Woodward, Bels Trial Examined, Doai, Preface
  2. Using many words; containing grandiloquent expressions; marked by rhetorical elegance (generally with an unfavourable connotation).
    • […] personal abuse and tonguy sarcasm are not elements of success in law practice.1885, J. H. Battle, Kentucky: A History of the State, Louisville, KY: F.A. Battey, “Biographical Sketches,” p. 839
  3. Manifested by fluent or voluble speech.
    • […] even his tonguey confidence and ingenuousness could glean but little satisfaction from his interviews with the rheumatic and unbelieving old woman.1887, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, “The Bar Light-House”, in A Humble Romance, and Other Stories, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 182
  4. Involving the tongue.
    • Wully seated himself upon the corner of the kitchen table, from beneath which appeared a dog’s welcoming nose accompanied by a tonguey, tooth-trimmed grin.1918, F. Roney Weir, chapter 13, in Merry Andrew, Boston: Small, Maynard, page 187
  5. Resembling a tongue.
    • These tonguey bracts or scaly appendages […] never become shorter than the proper cone scales, or so as to be hid from outside view.1882, Albert Kellogg, Forest Trees of California, Sacramento: J.D. Young, “The Noble Silver Fir,” p. 34

See all 6 meanings of tonguey

Forms of tonguy

comparativetonguier
comparativemore tonguy
superlativetonguiest
superlativemost tonguy

Origin of tonguy

From Middle English tungy, equivalent to tongue + -y.

Questions about tonguy

What is tonguy the alternative form of?
Tonguy is the alternative form of tonguey.

Words near tonguy in the dictionary

  1. tonguier
  2. tonguiest
  3. tonguiness
  4. tonguing
  5. tonguings
  6. tonguy
  7. Tongva
  8. Tongvas
  9. Tongxiang
  10. Tongxin
  11. Tongxu

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tonguy (page history and authors); tonguey (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “tonguy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tonguy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.