Stummy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A child's or informal word for the organ below the ribs that breaks down food
2. The digestive organ in the abdomen, referred to informally or by children in this way
3. The organ in your belly that processes food, using a child's or casual term for it

Etymology: Stummy is a childish or informal name for the stomach, and its history is a small case of two words merging. It began as a clipping of "stomach" with the diminutive ending "-y", the same ending that turns "dad" into "daddy" or "tum" into "tummy". Over time it has been reshaped by the other nursery word for the belly, "tummy", so that it now sits between the two, drawing its sound and affectionate feel from "tummy" while keeping the shape of "stomach". The result is a word that many speakers hear as simply a cute version of "tummy" rather than anything with a Greek past. "Stomach" itself, of course, goes back to Greek "stomachos", meaning gullet or throat, and the "-y" ending is what gave the family-table version its playful tone.