wombe

Middle English

Alternative forms

• uombe, womb, wome, woombe, wompe
• wamb, wame (Northern)
• wambe (Early Middle English or Northern)

Etymology

Inherited from Old English womb, wamb, from Proto-West Germanic *wambu, from Proto-Germanic *wambō.

The final vowel is generalised from the Old English inflected forms.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɔ̝ːmb(ə)/, (later) /ˈwɔ̝ːm(ə)/, /ˈwoːm(ə)/
• (Northern) IPA^(key): /waːmb/, (later) /waːm/

Noun

wombe (plural wombes or womben)

1. The stomach (digestive organ):
   • 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Jonah II:

     And þe Lord made redi a gret fish þat he shulde swolewe Ionas; and Ionas was in wombe of þe fish þre daȝes and þre niȝtis.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   1. The stomach of livestock used as food.
   2. (figurative) One's diet or lifestyle.
2. The stomach (area between the torso and the chest):
   1. Something resembling a stomach.
   2. The fur or coat taken from an animal's stomach.
   3. The foreside, especially of the stomach.
3. The womb or uterus.
4. The guts or entrails.
5. A hollow interior or cavity.

Derived terms

• wombed

Descendants

• English: womb

  Geordie: wyem

• Scots: wame, wam

References

• “wōmb(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 23 June 2018.