umbilicus

American  

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

noun

plural

umbilici

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

• umbiliform
  adjective

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

At the end of the Rostra, or Orators' Tribune was the Umbilicus Urbis Romae, or ideal center of Rome and the Roman Empire.

From The Harris-Ingram Experiment by Bolton, Charles E. (Charles Edward)

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.

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

They have lately met with more rolls of Papyri of different lengths and sizes, some with the Umbilicus remaining in them: the greater part are Greek in small capitals....

From The Care of Books by Clark, John Willis