navel
noun
Simple meaning
A scar where the umbilical cord was attached.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nayvuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈneɪvəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
anatomy
A scar where the umbilical cord was attached
“You were not supposed to show your navel on television.”
The central part or point of anything; the middle.
A navel orange.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A scar where the umbilical cord was attached
Used this way, navel is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
“You were not supposed to show your navel on television.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- bellybutton , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
- omphalos , rarer, so it draws attention
Natural pattern: navel on …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use navel
- “You were not supposed to show your navel on television.”noun
- “The Incas believed that Cuzco was the navel of the universe.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Literally, the contemplation of one's navel, which is an idiom usually meaning complacent self-absorption.
Seedless orange enclosing a small secondary fruit at the apex.
The center point or middle of something.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: scar where the umbilical cord was attached
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.