belly
Meanings
- The abdomen (especially a fat one).
- stomach (an organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion)
- uterus (a reproductive organ of therian mammals in which the young are conceived and develop until birth)
- The lower fuselage of an airplane.
- The part of anything which resembles (either closely or abstractly) the human belly in protuberance or in concavity; often, the fundus (innermost part).
- The main curved portion of a knife blade.
- The hollow part of a curved or bent timber, the convex part of which is the back.
- To position one’s belly; to move on one’s belly.
- To swell and become protuberant; to bulge or billow.
- To cause to swell out; to fill.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *balgiz Proto-West Germanic *balgi Old English bielġ Middle English bely English belly Inherited from Middle English bely, beli, bali, below, belew, balyw, from Old English bielġ (“bag, pouch, bulge”), from Proto-West Germanic *balgi, *balgu, from Proto-Germanic *balgiz, *balguz (“skin, hide, bellows, bag”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- (“to swell, blow up”). Cognate with Dutch balg, German Balg, Danish bælg, Old Irish bolg, Welsh bol. Doublet of bellows, blague, bulge, and budge. See also bellows. For the belly — bellows relation, compare typologically Macedonian мев (mev, “abdomen, belly; bellows”). Also compare Ancient Greek φῦσα (phûsa, “bellows; bladder; ...”), Latin venter — vēsīca, Russian пу́зо (púzo) — пузы́рь (puzýrʹ), пузырёк (puzyrjók).