nombril

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French nombril.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɒmbɹɪl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑmbɹəl/

Noun

nombril (plural nombrils)

1. (heraldry) A point halfway between the fess point (centre of the shield) and the middle base (bottom) point of an escutcheon.

Synonyms

• navel point, nombril point

Derived terms

• nombril point

Translations

heraldry: point midway between bottom and centre of the shield

• Finnish: tyvipiste, kilven napa, napa (fi)
• Swedish: nav (sv) n

References

• “nombril”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French nombril, from Old French nonbril, from Vulgar Latin *umbilīculus (compare Occitan embonilh), from Latin umbilīcus. The initial n is probably due to an interference from possessive determiners: Old French mun onbril (“my navel”) → mun nonbril (i.e. a rebracketing). Compare the development of Catalan llombrígol, Romanian buric. Doublet of ombilic, a borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɔ̃.bʁil/, /nɔ̃.bʁi/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

nombril m (plural nombrils)

1. navel, belly button
2. middle

Derived terms

• nombrilisme
• se prendre pour le nombril du monde
• se regarder le nombril

Related terms

• ombilic

Further reading

• “nombril”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French nonbril, from Latin *umbilīculus, from Latin umbilīcus.

Noun

nombril m (plural nombrils)

1. belly button

Descendants

• French: nombril
• → English: nombril