navel
pronunciation
How to pronounce navel in British English:
UK [ˈneɪvl]
How to pronounce navel in American English:
US [ˈneɪvl]
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- Noun:
- scar where the umbilical cord was attached
- the center point or middle of something
Word Origin
- navel (n.)
- Old English nafela, nabula, from Proto-Germanic *nabalan (cognates: Old Norse nafli, Danish and Swedish navle, Old Frisian navla, Middle Dutch and Dutch navel, Old High German nabalo, German Nabel), from PIE *(o)nobh- "navel" (cognates: Sanskrit nabhila "navel, nave, relationship;" Avestan nafa "navel," naba-nazdishta "next of kin;" Persian naf; Latin umbilicus "navel;" Old Prussian nabis "navel;" Greek omphalos; Old Irish imbliu). For Romanic words, see umbilicus. The cords of all link back, strandentwining cable of all flesh. [Joyce, "Ulysses"] "Navel" words from other roots include Lithuanian bamba, Sanskrit bimba- (also "disk, sphere"), Greek bembix, literally "whirlpool." Old Church Slavonic papuku, Lithuanian pumpuras are originally "bud." Considered a feminine sexual center since ancient times, and still in parts of the Middle East, India, and Japan. In medieval Europe, it was averred that "[t]he seat of wantonness in women is the navel." [Cambridge bestiary, C.U.L. ii.4.26] Words for it in most languages have a secondary sense of "center." Meaning "center or hub of a country" is attested in English from late 14c. To contemplate (one's) navel "meditate" is from 1933; hence navel-gazer (1952); see also omphaloskepsis. Navel orange attested from 1888.
Example
- 1. With its blind navel in the middle .
- 2. It shall be health to thy navel , and marrow to thy bones .
- 3. Reveal the navel and abdomen hollowing out , or big dew back design all looks sexy .
- 4. Others peddle slimming soap or slimming navel magnets or touch me please breast enlarging cream .
- 5. The first 10 recipients and donors whose transplants used the single-incision navel procedure have done well , according to the researchers .