English · Idiom Candidate

speak with a forked tongue

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To speak deceitfully or hypocritically

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Nói dối hoặc nói một cách giả dối

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: speak with a split tongue

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The politician was accused of speaking with a forked tongue during the election campaign

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.

Topics: Mouth & tongue

Common questions

What does “speak with a forked tongue” mean?

To speak deceitfully or hypocritically Literally: speak with a split tongue

Is “speak with a forked tongue” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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