calf's tongue

1 8.5

A cooked tongue from a young cow that is eaten as food

noun
/kæfs tʌŋ/

: lengua de ternera

The restaurant served braised calf's tongue with a rich mustard sauce.

Examples

He cooked calf's tongue for the family dinner, following his grandmother's recipe.
Have you ever tried calf's tongue?
Delicacies like calf's tongue are considered specialties in some European cuisines.
I ordered a dish with calf's tongue at the restaurant.
The restaurant served braised calf's tongue with a rich mustard sauce.
He cooked calf's tongue for the family dinner, following his grandmother's recipe.
Delicacies like calf's tongue are considered specialties in some European cuisines.

Synonyms

beef tongue

vscalf's tongue

1 3.4

A cow's tongue that is cooked and eaten as meat

is from younger animals rather than adult cattle

langue

vscalf's tongue

1 9.9

The tongue of an animal eaten as food

is specific to young cattle rather than any animal source

Surface Forms

calf's tongue singular

calf's tongues plural

Morphology

calf's + tongue

This is a compositional possessive noun phrase: a B1 learner who knows 'calf' (young cow) and 'tongue' (the muscular organ) will readily infer 'calf's tongue' means the tongue belonging to a calf. The culinary sense (cooked and eaten) follows straightforwardly from context and cross-linguistically common animal-part naming, so the expression is transparent.

Etymology

Calf's tongue comes from the literal idea of cooking the tongue of a young cow, a calf, as a special dish. That's why today calf's tongue means 'the tongue of a calf, cooked and eaten as food'.