yellowbelly

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yellowbelly

/ˈjɛləʊbɛli/

Where it comes from

* From yellow + belly.

* (someone from Lincolnshire or Isle of Ely): An allusion to the frogs and yellow-bellied eels caught there.

noun yellowbellies

informal A coward.
Similar: chicken, bottler, caitiff, candy-ass, candy-arse, coistril, coward, chicken liver, chickenshit, cocktail, cowardy custard, craven
UK, slang Someone from Lincolnshire, or from the Isle of Ely.
Ireland, slang Someone from Wexford.
Australia A golden perch (Macquaria ambigua). The creeks gave us lots of food, too—yellow belly and jew, perch and eel.
informal A yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius).

Translations

Every language

noun a coward

Español	amarillo
Italiano	coniglio, mammoletta, pollo, merlo, femminuccia, smidollato

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{yellowbelly_2026,
  title = {yellowbelly},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/yellowbelly},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}