Tongue cancer is a type of head and neck cancer that grows along or in any part of the tongue, the muscular organ that extends from the throat to the mouth. Cancer of the tongue is called oral tongue cancer. When cancer is located at the base of the tongue, or the back third of the tongue near the tonsils and soft palate, it is called oropharyngeal cancer.
Nerves and muscles that make up the tongue are important to swallowing, eating and speaking. Tongue cancer can affect many or all of these functions.