phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

"belly button"

Posted by ESC on November 15, 2000

In Reply to: "Belly button" posted by Natalia on November 15, 2000

: Does anyone know why is navel being called "belly button"?

BELLY BUTTON - Belly buttons are called belly buttons because they look like buttons. Other than that, here's all I have to offer - "The stomach (Middle English, 'stomak') has been called the 'gut' and the 'belly' (Old English 'belig,' bag) since the 14th century, with Americans also calling it the 'breadbasket' since the 1820s. We have also added such combinations as belly button ." From I Hear America Talking: An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976).

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