belly
bel·ly/ˈbɛli/noun, verb
belly is spelled B-E-L-L-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables (bel·ly). It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, belly means “The abdomen (especially a fat one)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of belly is bellies.
How many letters and syllables are in belly?
| Letters | 5: B-E-L-L-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: bel·ly |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 6,047th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is belly?
Belly appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce belly?
- /ˈbɛli/
Belly has 2 syllables, split bel·ly in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-belly.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-belly.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of belly
- bellies plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- bellying participle, present
- bellied participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does belly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The abdomen (especially a fat one).
You've grown a belly over Christmas! Time to join the gym again.
- 2
stomach (an organ in animals that stores food in the process of digestion)
My belly was full of wine.
- 3
uterus (a reproductive organ of therian mammals in which the young are conceived and develop until birth)
- 4
The lower fuselage of an airplane.
- 5
The part of anything which resembles (either closely or abstractly) the human belly in protuberance or in concavity; often, the fundus (innermost part).
the belly of a flask, muscle, violin, sail, or ship
- 6
The main curved portion of a knife blade.
- 7
The hollow part of a curved or bent timber, the convex part of which is the back.
verb
- 1
To position one’s belly; to move on one’s belly.
- 2
To swell and become protuberant; to bulge or billow.
- 3
To cause to swell out; to fill.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Belly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense abdomen – see also abdomen:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ventre |
| German | Bauch, Magen |
| Portuguese | barriga, pança, ventre |
| Spanish | barriga, panza, vientre, guata, busa, busarda |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does belly come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).