keep a civil tongue in one's head
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To speak politely and avoid offensive language
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Nói một cách lịch sự và tránh ngôn từ xúc phạm
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to keep a polite tongue in one's head
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
She reminded her child to keep a civil tongue in his head when talking to his teacher
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “keep a civil tongue in one's head” mean?
To speak politely and avoid offensive language Literally: to keep a polite tongue in one's head
Is “keep a civil tongue in one's head” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.