The Tongue

Your tongue is a strong muscle inside your mouth. It helps you taste your food. It also moves food around so you can chew and swallow. Your tongue even helps you make words when you talk.

How You Taste

The tongue is covered in tiny bumps called taste buds. Taste buds can tell if food is sweet, sour, salty, bitter, or savory. They send messages to your brain about how food tastes. You have thousands of taste buds on your tongue.

Other Jobs

The tongue helps you speak clearly by making different sounds. It also pushes food to your teeth while you chew. When you are done chewing, it moves the food to the back of your mouth so you can swallow. The tongue is one of the strongest muscles for its size.

Fun Facts

• You have around 10,000 taste buds on your tongue.
• Every tongue has a unique print, like a fingerprint.
• Taste buds are replaced about every two weeks.

Did You Know?

You cannot actually taste food if your tongue is dry. Food has to mix with spit before taste buds can work.