belly

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belly

/ˈbɛli/

Rhymes with -ɛli

Where it comes from

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).

noun bellies · bellie

The abdomen (especially a fat one). You've grown a belly over Christmas! Time to join the gym again.
stomach (an organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion) My belly was full of wine.
countable uterus (a reproductive organ of therian mammals in which the young are conceived and develop until birth) Before I formed thee in the bellie, I knew thee; […]
Similar: matrix, metra, uterus, womb
The lower fuselage of an airplane. There was no heat, and we shivered in the belly of the plane.
The part of anything which resembles (either closely or abstractly) the human belly in protuberance or in concavity; often, the fundus (innermost part). the belly of a flask, muscle, violin, sail, or ship
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.

Similar: abdomen, belly, midriff, stomach, tum, tummy, tum-tum, ventrum

verb bellies · bellying · bellied · bellie

To position one’s belly; to move on one’s belly. Bellying forward to the edge of the clearing, he found Hans, lying on his face, feathered with arrows like a porcupine.
intransitive To swell and become protuberant; to bulge or billow. The Pow'r appeaſ'd, with Winds ſuffic'd the Sail, / The bellying Canvaſs ſtrutted with the Gale; […]
transitive To cause to swell out; to fill. Your breath of full consent bellied his sails; […]

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: abdomen, belly out, paunch, stomach, venter, hungry, chow, breast, billy, bump, underbelly, flop, underside, tummy, ache, breadbasket

noun

Similar: abdomen, belly, midriff, stomach, tum, tummy, tum-tum, ventrum

Translations

Every language

noun abdomen — see also abdomen

Español	barriga, panza, vientre, guata, busa, busarda
한국어	배 bae, 복부 bokbu
日本語	胃 i, お腹 o-naka, 腹 hara, 腹部 fukubu
中文	腹 fù, 腹部 fùbù, 肚子 dùzi
हिन्दी	पेट peṭ, उदर udar, शिकम śikam
Português	barriga, pança, ventre
Français	ventre
Deutsch	Bauch, Magen
Italiano	pancia, ventre
Ελληνικά	κοιλιά koiliá
Română	burtă, abdomen, pântece, vintre
Русский	живо́т živót, брю́хо brjúxo, пу́зо púzo
Tiếng Việt	bụng
العربية	بَطْن baṭn
עברית	בֶּטֶן béten

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MLA

"belly." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/belly. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

belly. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/belly

Chicago

"belly." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/belly.

BibTeX

@misc{belly_2026,
  title = {belly},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/belly},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}