Meanings
- Known but not quite able to be recalled.
Her name is on the tip of my tongue: it's Kathy, or Karen, or something.
1 more example
The feeling that a blocked word or name is on the tip of the tongue appears to be a near-universal experience. The cognitive psychologist Bennett Schwarz surveyed speakers of fifty-one different languages and found that forty-five of them contain expressions using "the tongue" to describe situations […]
2001, Daniel L. Schacter, The Seven Sins of Memory, How the Mind Forgets and Remembers, Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN
Translations
Catalan a la punta de la llengua
- a la punta de la llenguaknown but not quite remembered
Chinese Mandarin 一時想不起來 /一时想不起来
- 一時想不起來 /一时想不起来 (yīshí xiǎng bù qǐlai)known but not quite remembered
Dutch op het puntje van zijn tong
- op het puntje van zijn tongknown but not quite remembered
Esperanto sur la pinto de la lango
- sur la pinto de la langoknown but not quite remembered
Finnish kielen päällä
- kielen päälläknown but not quite remembered
French sur le bout de la langue
- sur le bout de la langueknown but not quite remembered
German auf der Zunge liegen
- auf der Zunge liegenknown but not quite remembered
Greek στην άκρη της γλώσσας
- στην άκρη της γλώσσας (stin ákri tis glóssas)known but not quite remembered
Hungarian a nyelve hegyén
- a nyelve hegyénknown but not quite remembered
Irish ar bharr do theanga, ar bharr do ghoib
- ar bharr do theangaknown but not quite remembered
- ar bharr do ghoibknown but not quite remembered
Italian sulla punta della lingua
- sulla punta della linguaknown but not quite remembered
Norwegian Bokmål ha det på tungen, ha noe på tungen
- ha det på tungenknown but not quite remembered
- ha noe på tungenknown but not quite remembered
Persian دانستن چیزی ولی فراموشی موقتی آن
- دانستن چیزی ولی فراموشی موقتی آنknown but not quite remembered
Polish na końcu języka
- na końcu językaknown but not quite remembered
Portuguese na ponta da língua
- na ponta da línguaknown but not quite remembered
Romanian pe limbă
- pe limbăknown but not quite remembered
Russian на ко́нчике языка́, крутиться на языке
- на ко́нчике языка́ (na kónčike jazyká)known but not quite remembered
- крутиться на языке (krutitʹsja na jazyke)known but not quite remembered
Scottish Gaelic air bàrr teangaidh
- air bàrr teangaidhknown but not quite remembered
Spanish en la punta de la lengua
- en la punta de la lenguaknown but not quite remembered
Swedish ha något på tungan, ha något i bakhuvudet
- ha något på tunganknown but not quite remembered
- ha något i bakhuvudetknown but not quite remembered
Tagalog nasa dulo ng dila
- nasa dulo ng dilaknown but not quite remembered
Turkish dilin ucunda olmak
- dilin ucunda olmakknown but not quite remembered
Ukrainian на кінчику язика
- на кінчику язика (na kinčyku jazyka)known but not quite remembered
Yiddish אויף שפּיץ צונג
- אויף שפּיץ צונג (oyf shpits tsung)known but not quite remembered
Cite this entry
on the tip of one's tongue. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20tip%20of%20one's%20tongue
“on the tip of one's tongue.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20tip%20of%20one's%20tongue. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on the tip of one's tongue,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20the%20tip%20of%20one's%20tongue.
Source: on the tip of one's tongue on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.