喜樂美語
  1. 1緊張到說不出話、舌頭打結；口拙。（醫學上也指「舌繫帶過短」的舌頭。）

    Tongue-tied means you cannot get your words out because of how you feel — nervous, shy, , or suddenly put on the spot. The words are all there in your head; something in the moment stops them coming. This is a feeling word, not a medical one: it describes the student who has the answer a hundred times and then stands up and goes blank, or the person who meets someone they like and finds they have nothing to say. It is normally used with 'get' or 'be': 'I got tongue-tied', 'she was completely tongue-tied'. Because it names something everybody has felt, it comes out gently — telling a friend 'I get tongue-tied when the teacher calls my name' sounds honest, not like a complaint. It is also used a little for the same blankness in a second language, which is why it is such a useful word for you: 'My English is fine on paper, but I get tongue-tied on the phone.' There is one other, older use you may meet in a doctor's office: a baby born with the piece of skin under the tongue too tight is also called tongue-tied. But in ordinary conversation, the nervous meaning is what people mean nine times out of ten.

From the word’s history

tongue + tied 'restricted'.

由 tongue「舌頭」加 tied「被綁住的」組成。

Wiktionary

組成tongue + tied, in the older sense of 'tied' meaning held back or restricted — as if someone had literally tied your tongue so it could not move.

原始詞典資料5 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

tongue-tiedadj/ˈtʌŋtaɪd/

  • 1

    medicinepathologysciencesHaving tongue-tie or ankyloglossia (“a congenital oral anomaly in which the lingual frenulum (a membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth) is unusually short and thick, decreasing mobility of the tongue and affecting eating, speech, etc.”).

  • 2

    Prevented from or unable to express oneself clearly or fluently, or freely; at a loss for words, speechless.

    • But it ſeemes to mee that Dauid meeneth cheefly, that among the blaſphemies of his foes wherewith they endeuered too ouerwhelme hys Faythe, he himſelfe was not tungtyde: but rather lifted vp his voyce vnto God, whom the vngodly ſurmiſed to haue bin turned against him.
    • My toung-tide Muſe in manners holds her ſtill, / While comments of your praiſe richly compil'd, / Reſerue their Character with goulden quill, / And precious phraſe by all the Muſes fil'd.
  • 3

    Reluctant to speak up; reserved, reticent.

    • I was all this while chafing at the part I played, and sitting tongue-tied between shame and merriment; but somehow at this I could hold in no longer, and bade Alan let me be, for I was better already.
    • Tongue-tied or short of breath / Don't even try
  • 4

    Physically unable to speak; dumb, mute.

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：

  • tongue-tie

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。