borborygm means A gurgling or rumbling noise produced by gas in the bowels.
borborygm is pronounced /ˌbɔːbəˈɹɪɡm̩/.
Why “borborygm” is a great word
A gurgling or rumbling noise produced by the movement of gas and fluid through the intestines. Its lineage is a cascade of onomatopoeia, borrowed from French *borborygme*, which descends from Ancient Greek βορβορυγμός (*borborugmós*, "(onomatopoeic) rumbling in the bowels"), from the verb βορβορύζω (*borborúzō*, "to have a rumbling in the bowels"). Unlike "borborygmus" (its more clinical, Latinate twin) or "flatulence" (which names the final act of expulsion), "borborygm" captures the private, anticipatory symphony within. It is the lonely creak of a ship's hold in a calm sea, the distant thunder before a summer storm, the audible evidence of a body’s hidden, hydraulic life—a humble reminder that we are all, fundamentally, a collection of softly plumbing vessels.
Etymology
Borrowed from French borborygme, ultimately from Ancient Greek βορβορυγμός (borborugmós, “(onomatopoeic) borborygmus”), from βορβορύζω (borborúzō, “to experience borborygmus”).
noun
- A gurgling or rumbling noise produced by gas in the bowels.“Borborygm, a rumbling Noiſe in the Guts.”
- A gurgling or rumbling.“[Susan] Sontag then pauses for the space of a paragraph to deliver a swift verbal kick at American fiction for its technical unadventurousness, its lack of an avant-garde, and its tendency to interpretive borborygm.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.