The posterior one-third of the tongue receives taste via which nerve?

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Taste in different parts of the tongue is carried by different cranial nerves. The posterior one-third of the tongue provides its taste sensation through the glossopharyngeal nerve (cranial nerve IX). These taste fibers travel with the glossopharyngeal nerve from the taste buds of that region to the brainstem, specifically to the nucleus of the solitary tract.

The other nerves have different roles. The chorda tympani, a branch of the facial nerve, carries taste from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue and joins the lingual nerve along its course. The lingual nerve itself mainly carries general somatic sensation (touch, pain, temperature) from the anterior two-thirds, not taste. The facial nerve does not carry taste from the posterior tongue. Therefore, the posterior one-third of the tongue receives its taste via the glossopharyngeal nerve.