The language of the Qom is referred to as "qom l’aqtac" and from a linguistic point of view, it is assumed to belong to the Guaicuruan language group that many authors consider that, along with the Matacoana languages that form the mataco-guaicuruan linguistic family. In the Toba Qom language, the Qom originally referred to themselves as the "ntokóit", but since the end of the 20th century, this indigenous group began to utilize the self-given name, Qom, that is derived from the personal pronoun "qomi", meaning we. In a restricted sense, this name refers only to the Qom people and in a more ample context, it can refer to all indigenous groups. Also, although less frequently, the Qom refer to themselves as the "qom’lek" or "qom’lik". Despite being an indigenous group from the Pampas region and not from the Andean region, since the 1980s, it is common to see the word written as qom where the "q" denotes a voiceless uvular stop that appears in Andean languages such as Quechua and Aimara and sounds similar to a "k".