tummy

/ˈtʌmi/

/ˈtʌmi/

Other forms: tummies

Tummy is an informal shorthand for stomach. This word is mainly used for talking to little kids: "Aw, do you have a tummy ache?"

You wouldn't use the word tummy in your human anatomy class, but you might use it when you babysit your two-year-old niece. Infants sometimes have "tummy time," a short period when they are turned onto their stomachs so they can develop their neck and shoulder muscles. Tummy has been in use since the 19th century, and experts guess that it comes from a childish pronunciation of stomach.

Definitions of tummy

1. noun

   slang for a paunch
   synonyms: bay window, corporation, pot, potbelly

   type of:

   belly, paunch

   a protruding abdomen
2. noun

   an enlarged and muscular saclike organ of the alimentary canal; the principal organ of digestion
   synonyms: breadbasket, stomach, tum

   types:

   craw, crop

   a pouch in many birds and some lower animals that resembles a stomach for storage and preliminary maceration of food

   first stomach, rumen

   the first compartment of the stomach of a ruminant; here food is collected and returned to the mouth as cud for chewing

   reticulum, second stomach

   the second compartment of the stomach of a ruminant

   omasum, psalterium, third stomach

   the third compartment of the stomach of a ruminant

   abomasum, fourth stomach

   the fourth compartment of the stomach of a ruminant; the one where digestion takes place

   type of:

   internal organ, viscus

   a main organ that is situated inside the body