Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “bely” come from?

bely (Middle English) comes from Old English bielġ, from Proto-West Germanic *balgi, from Proto-Germanic balgiz, from Proto-Indo-European bʰelǵʰ-, from Proto-Indo-European bʰel-, from Proto-Indo-European bʰōl-.

Ancestry of “bely”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishbielġ—
2Proto-West Germanic*balgi—
3Proto-Germanicbalgizbag
4Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰelǵʰ-to swell
5Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰel-to sound; to speak, roar, bark; shiny, white; to...
6Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰōl-—

Words derived from “bely”

  • belly
  • underbelly
  • potbelly
  • bellyful
  • bellyache
  • bellybutton
  • bellyband
  • sowbelly
  • yellowbelly
  • gorbellied
  • redbelly
  • shadbelly
  • bellyflop
  • sourbelly
  • whitebelly
  • fishbelly
  • bellyacher
  • jellybelly
  • pufferbelly
  • gorbelly
  • firebelly
  • bellycrawl
  • swagbelly
  • bellylike
Every word from Proto-Indo-European bʰōl- →