bouk

B3O1U1K5
/baʊk//bəʊk/UK, dialectal/buːk/

noun

The belly.

OriginMiddle English bouk ← Old English būc ← Proto-West Germanic *būk →
Scrabble 10
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Meanings

nounbouk (plural bouks)

plural bouks · alternative bouke

  1. UKdialectalobsoleteThe belly.
  2. UKdialectalThe trunk or torso of the body, hence the body itself.
  3. UKdialectalThe carcass of a slaughtered animal.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
stomach

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰōw-“to blow, swell”
  2. Proto-Germanic*būkaz“belly, body”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*būk
  4. Old Englishbūc“belly, stomach, pitcher”
  5. Middle Englishbouk
  6. Englishbouk

From Middle English bouk, from Old English būc (“belly, stomach, pitcher”), from Proto-West Germanic *būk, from Proto-Germanic *būkaz (“belly, body”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰōw- (“to blow, swell”). Doublet of bucket. Cognate with Scots bouk, bowk, buik (“body, carcass”), Dutch buik (“belly”), German Bauch (“belly”), Swedish buk (“belly, abdomen”), Norwegian Bokmål buk (“belly”), Icelandic búkur (“torso”). For the phonetic development, compare puck, suck.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Kubobuko
Cite this entry
APA

bouk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bouk

MLA

“bouk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bouk. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bouk,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bouk.

Source: bouk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.