A muscular organ in the mouth that handles food during chewing and swallowing and supports taste and speech.
Structure
The tongue is made of eight interlaced skeletal muscles, four intrinsic and four extrinsic, allowing precise changes in shape and position. Its upper surface is covered with thousands of small projections called papillae.
Taste
Most papillae are filiform, providing texture for handling food. Fungiform, foliate, and circumvallate papillae carry taste buds that detect sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami stimuli.
Speech
By changing its shape and position relative to the teeth and palate, the tongue forms vowels and most consonants. The hypoglossal nerve provides nearly all of its motor control.
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Tongue starts with T and ends with E. Browse other body parts along the same letter.
Body Parts that contain a letter from "Tongue":