umbilicus

American  

[uhm-bil-i-kuhs, uhm-buh-lahy-kuhs] / ʌmˈbɪl ɪ kəs, ˌʌm bəˈlaɪ kəs /

noun

umbilici plural

1. Anatomy. the depression in the center of the surface of the abdomen indicating the point of attachment of the umbilical cord to the embryo; navel.

2. Botany, Zoology. a navellike formation, as the hilum of a seed.

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umbilicus British  

/ ʌmˈbɪlɪˌfɔːm, ˌʌmbɪˈlaɪkəs, ʌmˈbɪlɪkəs /

noun

1. biology a hollow or navel-like structure, such as the cavity at the base of a gastropod shell

2. anatomy a technical name for the navel

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• umbiliform
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• umbilici
  plural

Etymology

Origin of umbilicus

1605–15; < Latin umbilīcus navel, middle, center; see navel

Explanation

Your umbilicus is your bellybutton. It's the place on your stomach where your umbilical cord was attached before you were born. Just call it a bellybutton or navel unless you're a fancy medical writer. Umbilicus is the official anatomical term for your navel or bellybutton. Most people don't give much thought to their umbilicus, which is really a scar marking the spot where a cord once connected to your source of nutrients when you were a fetus in your mother's body. After babies are born, this cord is cut, and the result is an umbilicus. In Latin, the word means both "navel" and "the center."

Example Sentences

But overall, says Esso Viet Nam's placid manager, Frederick W. Penn, "the thing unusual about us is the extent to which operations here are so usual." 13,000-Mile Umbilicus.

From Time Magazine Archive

Umbilicus Chrysanthus.—This little Alpine plant should occupy a warm, sheltered, and dry situation, and be protected with an overhead screen in wet seasons.

From Gardening for the Million by Pink, Alfred

Cotyledon, a widely distributed genus with about 90 species, is represented in the British Isles by C. Umbilicus, pennywort, or navelwort, which takes its name from the succulent peltate leaves.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 6 "Coucy-le-Château" to "Crocodile" by Various

In other instances the peltate leaves become more or less hollow, constituting broad ascidia as in the case of the crassulaceous genus Umbilicus.

From Species and Varieties, Their Origin by Mutation by Vries, Hugo de

At the end of it was the Umbilicus urbis Romæ, or ideal center of the city and empire, the remains of which are recognizable.

From The Youthful Wanderer An Account of a Tour through England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany by Heffner, George H.