navel

navel

English

A navel.

Alternative forms

• navil (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English navel, navele, from Old English nafola, from Proto-West Germanic *nabulō, from Proto-Germanic *nabalô (compare West Frisian nâle, Dutch navel, German Nabel), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃nóbʰōl (compare Old Irish imbliu, Latin umbilīcus, Ancient Greek ὀμφαλός (omphalós)), diminutive of *h₃nobʰ-, equivalent to nave +‎ -el (diminutive suffix)). Doublet of omphalos. More at nave.

Pronunciation

• enPR: nā'vəl, IPA^(key): /ˈneɪvəl/
• (Southern American English, obsolete) enPR: nā'bəl, IPA^(key): /ˈneɪbəl/[1]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvəl
• Homophone: naval

Noun

navel (plural navels)

1. (anatomy) The indentation or bump remaining in the abdomen of mammals where the umbilical cord was attached before birth.
2. The central part or point of anything; the middle.
   • 1637, John Milton, A Mask presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634:

     Within the navel of this hideous wood,
     Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells,
     Of Bacchus and Circe born, great Comus

   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:

     We sat alfresco on the edge of a “square,” in reality a pond of cobbly mud with a plinth plonked in its navel […]

3. A navel orange.
   • 1981, Peter K. Thor, Edward V. Jesse, Economic Effects of Terminating Federal Marketing Orders for California-Arizona Oranges

     This contributed to a rapid rise in planted acreage in northern California, especially in navels, which are more suited to growing conditions there.

4. (historical) An eye on the underside of a carronade for securing it to a carriage.

Synonyms

• bellybutton/belly button, nave (obsolete), umbilicus, see also Thesaurus:navel

Derived terms

• navel-gazing
• navel orange

Translations

remnant of umbilical cord

Adyghe: шдиху (šdiixʷu) Afrikaans: nawel, naeltjie (af) Aklanon: pusod Albanian: kërthizë (sq) f Amharic: እምብርት (ʾəmbərt) Andi: цӏцӏунно (ccʼunno) Arabic: سُرَّة‎ f (surra) Egyptian Arabic: سرة‎ f (surra) Hijazi Arabic: سرّة‎ f (surra, ṣurra) Archi: цӏан (cʼan) Armenian: պորտ (hy) (port) Aromanian: buric Assamese: নাই (nai), নাভি (nabhi), নাড়ী (nari) Asturian: embeligru (ast) m, ombligu (ast) m Avar: цӏину (cʼinu) Aymara: kururu Azerbaijani: göbək (az) Baluchi: ناپگ‎ (nápag) Bashkir: кендек (kendek) Bau Bidayuh: pisod Belarusian: пупо́к m (pupók), пуп m (pup) Bengali: নাভি (nabhi) Berber: Tashelhit: abuḍ m Bislama: nabuton Borôro: künabo Breton: begel (br) Bulgarian: пъп m (pǎp) Burmese: ချက် (my) (hkyak) Catalan: melic (ca) m, llombrígol (ca) m Central Dusun: pusod Central Melanau: pused Chamicuro: mocho Chechen: цӏонга (cʼonga) Chepang: तोय्‌ Cherokee: ᎤᏗᏴᏓᏛᎢ (udiyvdadvi) Chichewa: mchombo Chinese: Cantonese: 肚臍, 肚脐 (tou5 ci4), 肚臍窿, 肚脐窿 (tou5 ci4 lung1) Hakka: 肚臍, 肚脐 (tú-chhì), 肚臍窟, 肚脐窟 (tú-chhì-fut) Mandarin: 肚臍／肚脐 (zh) (dùqí), 肚臍眼／肚脐眼 (zh) (dùqíyǎn) Min Nan: 肚臍 (zh-min-nan), 肚脐 (tō͘-châi), 腹臍, 腹脐 (pak-châi) Coptic: ϧⲉⲗⲡⲓ f (xelpi) Cornish: begel m Czech: pupek (cs) m Danish: navle (da) c Dupaningan Agta: pusad Dutch: navel (nl) m Egyptian: (ẖpꜣ) Erzya: почо (počo) Esperanto: umbiliko (eo) Estonian: naba (et) Faroese: nalvi m Fijian: vico Finnish: napa (fi) French: nombril (fr) m Friulian: umbriçon m, umbričon, bugnigul m Galician: embigo (gl) m, beligo m Georgian: ჭიპი (č̣iṗi) German: Bauchnabel (de) m, Nabel (de) m Greek: αφαλός (el) m (afalós) ομφαλός (el) m (omfalós) Ancient: ὀμφαλός m (omphalós) Guaraní: puru'â Gujarati: નાભિ (gu) (nābhi) Hausa: cibiya Hawaiian: piko Hebrew: טַבּוּר‎ (he) (tabúr), פופיק‎ (he) m (púpik) Hiligaynon: pusod Hindi: नाभि (hi) f (nābhi), नाफ़ f (nāf) Hungarian: köldök (hu) Icelandic: nafli (is) m Ido: umbiliko (io) Ilocano: puseg Indonesian: pusat (id), pusar (id) Ingush: цӏонг (cʼong) Iranun: pused Irish: imleacán m Ishkashimi: ناف (nāf) Italian: ombelico (it) m, (unusual) onfalo m Japanese: 臍 (ja) (へそ, heso) Javanese: tengah (jv) Kannada: ನಾಭಿ (kn) (nābhi) Kapampangan: pusud Karachay-Balkar: киндик (kindik) Kazakh: кіндік (kındık) Khmer: ផ្ចិត (km) (phcət) Kimaragang: pusod Korean: 배꼽 (ko) (baekkop) Kumyk: гинник (ginnik) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: navik (ku) f Kyrgyz: киндик (ky) (kindik) Lao: ສາຍບື (lo) (sāi bư̄) Latgalian: pupona Latin: umbilīcus m Latvian: naba f Lithuanian: bamba f Livonian: nabā Lotud: pusod Low German: Navel m Lule Sami: náhpe Macedonian: папок m (papok) Malay: pusat, pusar (ms), pusar (ms) Malayalam: പൊക്കിൾ (ml) (pokkiḷ) Maltese: żokra f Mansaka: posod Maori: pito, ihonga Maranao: posed Middle English: navel Mongolian: хүйс (mn) (xüjs), хүй (mn) (xüj) Nanai: хуйму Navajo: atsʼééʼ Nepali: नाइटो (nāiṭo) Ngarrindjeri: pulanggi Nogai: киндик (kindik) Norman: nombrîn m (Jersey), naombrin m (Guernsey), nõmbri m (Sark) Norwegian: navle m Occitan: embonilh (oc), monilh (oc), embonígol (oc) Ojibwe: (my navel) indis Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: пѫпъ m (pǫpŭ) Old East Slavic: пупъ m (pupŭ) Oromo: hadhuura Ottoman Turkish: ناف‎ (nâf), گوبك‎ (göbek) Pashto: د نامه غوټه‎ (ps) f (denāmǝ gúṭa), نو‎ (ps) (naw) Persian: ناف‎ (fa) (nâf) Punjabi: ਧੁੰਨੀ f (dhunnī) Plautdietsch: Nowel m Polish: pępek (pl) m Portuguese: umbigo (pt) m Quechua: puti, pupu, puputi Romanian: buric (ro) n Rungus: pusod Russian: пупо́к (ru) m (pupók), пуп (ru) m (pup) Sabah Bisaya: pusod Sanskrit: नाभि (sa) f (nābhi), नाभी (sa) f (nābhī) Santali: ᱵᱩᱠᱟᱹ (bukă) Sardinian: imbílicu, imbírigu Scottish Gaelic: imleag f Sebop: pucet Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: пу̏пак m Roman: pȕpak (sh) m Slovak: pupok (sk) m Slovene: pópek (sl) m Sicilian: viḍḍicu m Somali: xudhur Southern Altai: киндик (kindik) Spanish: ombligo (es) m Swahili: kitovu (sw) class 7/8 Swedish: navel (sv) c Sylheti: ꠘꠣꠁꠝꠥꠠꠣꠟ (naimuṛal) Tagal Murut: pusor Tagalog: pusod Tajik: ноф (nof) Tamil: தொப்புள் (ta) (toppuḷ) Tatar: кендек (tt) (kendek) Tausug: pusud Tboli: huhed Telugu: నాభి (te) (nābhi), బొడ్డు (te) (boḍḍu) Tetum: husar Thai: สะดือ (th) (sà-dʉʉ) Tibetan: ལྟེ་བ (lte ba) Timugon Murut: pusor Tocharian B: kele Tok Pisin: hap bel Turkish: göbek (tr) Turkmen: göbek Tuvan: хиндик (xindik) Udi: цӏан (c̣an) Udmurt: гогы (gogy) Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎗 (šr) Ukrainian: пупо́к m (pupók), пуп m (pup) Urdu: نابھی‎ f (nābhi), ناف‎ f (nāf) Uyghur: كىندىك‎ (kindik) Uzbek: kindik (uz) Venetian: bonigolo m, bonigol, bunigolo m, bunigol, bonigoło Veps: naba Vietnamese: rốn (vi), rún (vi) Vilamovian: nowuł m Volapük: numbril Võro: naba Welsh: bogail West Coast Bajau: ponsot White Hmong: please add this translation if you can Yagnobi: нофа (nofa) Yakut: киин (kiin) Yami: pesed Yiddish: פּופּיק‎ m (pupik), נאָפּל‎ m (nopl) Zhuang: saejndw

See also

• innie
• outie

References

1. Stanley, Oma (1937), “III. The Consonants”, in The Speech of East Texas (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 2), New York: Columbia University Press, DOI:10.7312/stan90028, →ISBN, § 11, page 73.

Anagrams

• Alven, Levan, elvan, levan, venal

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch navele, navel, from Old Dutch *navalo, from Proto-Germanic *nabalô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaː.vəl/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: na‧vel
• Rhymes: -aːvəl

Noun

navel m (plural navels, diminutive naveltje n)

1. navel

Derived terms

• navelpiercing
• navelstreng
• naveltrui

Descendants

• Afrikaans: nawel, nauel

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• navele, navill, navyll, navle, naule, nawle, novel, novle, novele, nowle

Etymology

From Old English nafola, from Proto-West Germanic *nabulō, from Proto-Germanic *nabulô; compare nave.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaːvəl(ə)/

Noun

navel (plural naveles)

1. navel (of a human or animal)
2. centre, point, hub

Descendants

• English: navel
• Scots: nyvel

References

• “nāvel(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

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Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse nafli.

Noun

navel c

1. navel

Declension

Declension of navel
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	navel	naveln	navlar	navlarna
Genitive	navels	navelns	navlars	navlarnas

Anagrams

• alven, elvan, laven, valen