Etymologically
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belly

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 14:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbɛli/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English beli, bely, inherited from Old English belg (“leather bag, purse, pod, husk, bellows”) (West Saxon belig, bylig, Anglian bælg),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *balgiz, bag,[2][3][5] source also of Old Norse belgr, bag, bellows, and Gothic balgs, wineskin,[2][3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *bhelgh- (“to swell”), an extended form of *bʰel-, to blow, swell.[2][3] It is related to bellows and billow.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bag, skin-bag, pod or husk: about 700 in Barnhart, about 950 in the OED.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline describes it as a general Germanic word for a leather bag that in English came to mean a part of the body.[2] The body as the shell of the soul is from about 1275,[6] and the stomach, especially as a symbol of gluttony, from about 1200.[2][3] The abdomen of a human or animal is from the late 14th century (1340 in the OED).[2][6] The Old English word for the belly was būc, compare German Bauch,[2] and the plural of belg became the separate word bellows.[2] A bulging or convex surface is from the 1590s.[2] The underside of animals is from about 1440, and belly as a joint of meat from 1883.[6] The verb, to swell out, is from about 1593–1606, in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida.[4][3][2] Old English belgan, to be angry, preserves a figurative sense of swelling.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 700 – a bag.[3]
  • c. 1200 – the stomach.[2]
  • 1340 – the abdomen.[6]
  • 1590s – a bulging surface.[2]
  • 1606 – the verb.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The front part of the body below the chest; the abdomen.
  2. The stomach, especially as the seat of appetite or gluttony.
  3. The underside of an animal's body.
  4. A part that bulges: the belly of a sail.
  5. The inside or hollow interior of something: the belly of a ship.

Verb

  1. To swell out or bulge.

Word family

  • bellylike
  • belly up
  • bellows
  • billow
  • bulge

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press