Bowels
/ˈbaʊ.əlz/noun
The intestines or internal organs of the abdomen; also, the deepest inner part of something.
Did you know?English bowels comes through Old French from a Latin word for a small cask or tub, showing how body words can begin as container metaphors before becoming anatomical terms.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bhel-
“to swell, blow up, or be inflated”
Latin
Latin
bulla
“a bubble, blister, or swelling”
Late Latin
Latin
botellus
“a little sausage; small tube or gut”
Old French
Old French
bouel
“intestine, gut”
Middle English
English
bowels
“intestines; internal organs”
Modern English
English
bowels
“the intestines; the deepest inner part of something”