Meanings
nountongue-twister (plural tongue-twisters)
plural tongue-twisters · alternative tongue twister
- A phrase that is deliberately designed to be difficult to say correctly, usually because of varying combinations of similar phonemes.
The present name being a translation, "in brief," of the original tongue-twister, meaning "the river of the rock"
1855, H. Taylor with J. H. Beech, “Report of the Committee on Dysentery”, in The Transactions of the American Medical Association, volume viii, Philadelphia: Collins, page 568
Translations
Arabic تَنَافُر
- تَنَافُر (tanāfur)phrase which is difficult to say
Basque aho-korapilo
- aho-korapilophrase which is difficult to say
Bulgarian скоропоговорка
- скоропоговорка (skoropogovorka)phrase which is difficult to say
Catalan travallengua, embarbussament
- travallenguaphrase which is difficult to say
- embarbussamentphrase which is difficult to say
Chinese Cantonese 急口令
- 急口令 (gap¹ hau² ling⁶)phrase which is difficult to say
Chinese Mandarin 繞口令 /绕口令, 拗口令
- 繞口令 /绕口令 (ràokǒulìng)phrase which is difficult to say
- 拗口令 (àokǒulìng)phrase which is difficult to say
Czech jazykolam
- jazykolamphrase which is difficult to say
Danish tungebrækker
- tungebrækkerphrase which is difficult to say
Dutch tongbreker
- tongbrekerphrase which is difficult to say
Esperanto langrompilo
- langrompilophrase which is difficult to say
Finnish kielivoimisteluloru, sanahirviö
- kielivoimisteluloruphrase which is difficult to say
- sanahirviöphrase which is difficult to say
French virelangue
- virelanguephrase which is difficult to say
German Zungenbrecher
- Zungenbrecherphrase which is difficult to say
Greek γλωσσοδέτης
- γλωσσοδέτης (glossodétis)phrase which is difficult to say
Hungarian nyelvtörő
- nyelvtörőphrase which is difficult to say
Icelandic tungubrjót
- tungubrjótphrase which is difficult to say
Indonesian pembelit lidah
- pembelit lidahphrase which is difficult to say
Irish rabhlóg, casfhocal
- rabhlógphrase which is difficult to say
- casfhocalphrase which is difficult to say
Italian scioglilingua
- scioglilinguaphrase which is difficult to say
Japanese 早口言葉
- 早口言葉 (hayakuchi kotoba)phrase which is difficult to say
Korean 빠른말, 잰말놀이
- 빠른말 (ppareunmal)phrase which is difficult to say
- 잰말놀이 (jaenmallori)phrase which is difficult to say
Latvian ātrruna, mēles mežģis
- ātrrunaphrase which is difficult to say
- mēles mežģisphrase which is difficult to say
Lithuanian greitãkalbė
- greitãkalbėphrase which is difficult to say
Māori pepe takimanawa
- pepe takimanawaphrase which is difficult to say
Norwegian Bokmål tungekrøll
- tungekrøllphrase which is difficult to say
Polish łamaniec językowy, łamaniec
- łamaniec językowyphrase which is difficult to say
- łamaniecphrase which is difficult to say
Portuguese trava-língua, trava-línguas
- trava-línguaphrase which is difficult to say
- trava-línguasphrase which is difficult to say
Romanian frântură de limbă
- frântură de limbăphrase which is difficult to say
Russian скорогово́рка
- скорогово́рка (skorogovórka)phrase which is difficult to say
Slovak jazykolam
- jazykolamphrase which is difficult to say
Spanish trabalenguas
- trabalenguasphrase which is difficult to say
Swahili kitanza ndimi
- kitanza ndimiphrase which is difficult to say
Swedish tungvrickare
- tungvrickarephrase which is difficult to say
Tagalog pamilipit-dila, pampilipit-dila
- pamilipit-dilaphrase which is difficult to say
- pampilipit-dilaphrase which is difficult to say
Tamil நா பிறழ்
- நா பிறழ் (nā piṟaḻ)phrase which is difficult to say
Turkish tekerleme
- tekerlemephrase which is difficult to say
Ukrainian скоромовка
- скоромовка (skoromovka)phrase which is difficult to say
Welsh cwlwm tafod
- cwlwm tafodphrase which is difficult to say
Yiddish גיכווערטל
- גיכווערטל (gikhvertl)phrase which is difficult to say
Cite this entry
APA
tongue-twister. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tongue-twister
MLA
“tongue-twister.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tongue-twister. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tongue-twister,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tongue-twister.
Source: tongue-twister on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.