belly

CEFRB1

/ˈbɛli/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    the region of the body of a vertebrate between the thorax and the pelvis.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    stomach (an organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion)

Examples

  • I hit the man on the belly.

  • The belly is not filled with fair words.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. uterus (a reproductive organ of therian mammals in which the young are conceived and develop until birth)

  2. The abdomen (especially a fat one).

  3. The lower fuselage of an airplane.

More examples

In context

  • The belly has no ears.

  • You've grown a belly over Christmas! Time to join the gym again.

  • the belly of a flask, muscle, violin, sail, or ship

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

After the huge meal, his full blank ached from overeating.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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...