forked tongue
2
8.7
- noun
- Informal
:
lengua engañosa
- His forked tongue made it difficult for anyone to trust his promises.
- speaks with forked tongue
Examples
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Harvard professor speaks with forked tongue.
Blog text (20) -
I believe the native Indians would say this principle is speaking with a 'forked tongue', as in being a sly snake.
Blog text (27) -
You speak with a forked tongue.
Blog text (29) -
Indians used to say, "they speak with forked tongue."
Blog text (19) -
Truly remarkable that "white man speaks with forked tongue."
Blog text (4) -
Based on all the quotes, Davis seems to speak with a forked tongue.
Blog text (15) -
Lead us not astray with your forked tongue of lies.
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You mean Danny Ayalon, who speaks with a forked tongue?
Blog text (23) -
For the Komo, the Djeli is someone who has a forked tongue because he is not someone to trust.
Academic text (2008) -
Clear, concise, and easy to understand, I wish more online marketers would speak without forked tongue and just tell us what's really happening.
Blog text (34)
Synonyms
6
9.0
Confusing speech that hides the truth, often to avoid a direct answer
6
9.3
Language that hides the truth by using vague or confusing words
Antonyms
How Deceptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal parts 'forked' (split into two) and 'tongue' (speech) give a visible metaphorical hint of 'two-sided' or split speech, so a learner might suspect some non-literal sense. However, the precise sense 'deceptive/treacherous speech' is idiomatic and culturally grounded; the connection is metaphorical rather than fully compositional, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts may not reliably infer the exact meaning without exposure.
Etymology
Forked tongue may come from the image of a snake's forked tongue, which looks like two small tips. For a long time people thought snakes were tricky, so the idea of a split tongue became a picture of someone who says one thing but means another, and to speak with a forked tongue means 'to be deceptive'.