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LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

umbilicus.

navel, middle, center; center of country/region; ornamented end of scroll;

9 characters4 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

noun[ʊm.bɪˈliː.kʊs]Classical-Latin[um.biˈliː.kus]
  1. a navel

    declension-2
  2. the middle or center

    declension-2
  3. the ornamented end of a scroll

    declension-2
Where this word comes from

From Proto-Indo-European *h₃nóbʰōl, though with a complex series of intermediary developments. According to De Vaan, the original l-stem was probably thematicized to *-(e)lo-, to which the suffix -īcus was added. If this proposal is accepted, the term would follow a development of *omb-(e/o)l > *omb-elo- > attested umbilīcus. The derivation of this term from the zero-grade *h₃m̥bʰ- could serve as an example of Rix's Law, according to which *#h₃NC- would yield #oNC-. Höfler, who rejects the existence of Rix's Law in Latin, alternatively suggests schwebeablaut in the root as an explanation, in which case the term would continue *h₃enbʰ-. Schrijver, however, rejects schwebeablaut as a possible explanation, arguing that this phenomenon cannot occur within the same paradigm.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.