Etymograph

English

belly

Belly comes from Old English bielġ ‘bag, pouch, bulge’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- ‘to swell, blow up’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰelǵʰ-1‘to swell, blow up’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰólǵʰis1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*balgiz1‘bag’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*balgi1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bielġ1‘bag, pouch, bulge’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bely1
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602belly1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English belly
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “Your breath of full consent bellied his sails; […]”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰelǵʰ-Wiktionary, English belly‘to swell, blow up’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰólǵʰisWiktionary, English bellyreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*balgizWiktionary, English belly‘bag’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*balgiWiktionary, English bellyreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150bielġWiktionary, English belly‘bag, pouch, bulge’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500belyWiktionary, English belly
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602bellyWiktionary, English belly. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “Your breath of full consent bellied his sails; […]”

The story

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).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- ‘to swell, blow up’

budget, fool, bloc, bolster, bulge, budge, folly, follies, follicle, billow, 14 more

through Middle English bely

bellows

Today it means

noun The abdomen (especially a fat one).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “belly”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- / belly

Shirt and support for this word