tongue-tied語塞；舌頭打結。tongue-tie原本是一個醫學名詞，指的是舌系帶過短，導致說話不清楚。tongue-tied將tie改成過去分詞tied，引申出「舌頭打結"或「結巴」的意思通常是由緊張、興奮、害羞或尷尬造成的。
看看老外聊天時怎麼用tongue-tied：
Bruce: You seemed tongue-tied about something.
Monica: There's something that I think it's time I told you about.
Bruce: OK. Get it off your chest, Sweetie.
Monica: Before we get more serious, I must tell you that I'm infertile.
Bruce: Oh!. You are? That's not the end of the world!
布魯斯：你似乎吱吱唔唔的。
莫妮卡：有件事我覺得是時候告訴你了。
布魯斯：好，說吧，親愛的。
莫妮卡：在我們的關係變得更深入以前，我得告訴你，我有不孕症。
布魯斯：噢！…是嗎？那又不是世界末日！
tongue-tied例句精選：
In their presence I became self-conscious and tongue-tied.
當著他們的面，我有些難為情，說不出話來。
After a few sentences I became tongue-tied.
我說了幾句就沒詞兒了。
He was stumped by the questions and remained tongue-tied for a good while.
他被問得張口結舌，半天說不出話來。
The high housing prices in big cities have stunned people tongue-tied.
大城市的房價高得令人咋舌。
拓展學習：
speechless 無言的
awkward 尷尬的
stutter 口吃
eloquent 流利的
a twist in one's tongue 某人口齒不清
argue sb.down 把某人駁倒
think over 三思