reserved vs tongue-tied

reserved

adj
  • Slow to reveal emotion or opinions. 

  • Set aside for a particular person or purpose. 

tongue-tied

adj
  • Reluctant to speak up; reserved, reticent. 

  • Having tongue-tie or ankyloglossia (“a congenital oral anomaly in which the lingual frenulum (a membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth) is unusually short and thick, decreasing mobility of the tongue and affecting eating, speech, etc.”). 

  • Physically unable to speak; dumb, mute. 

  • Prevented from or unable to express oneself clearly or fluently, or freely; at a loss for words, speechless. 

How often have the words reserved and tongue-tied occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )