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Glite Dictionary
umbilical hernia

umbilical hernia

6.5
A bulge near the belly button where part of the gut pushes through the stomach wall
  • noun
  • /ˌʌmˈbɪlɪkəl ˈhɜrniə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : hernia umbilical
  • An umbilical hernia can often be identified by a noticeable bulge around the navel.

Examples

  • The distended belly button may also refer to an umbilical hernia.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Sophie's got an umbilical hernia.

    Life As We Know It (2010)

  • I started to feel quite ill, and I had an umbilical hernia.

    Blog text (25)

  • Who are treated with insulin for life, double up - says "News" Professor Dragan Zdravkovic, an endocrinologist at the Institute for Health umbilical hernia.

    Blog text (4)

  • The doctor diagnosed me with an umbilical hernia after I reported pain near my belly button.

  • Children can develop an umbilical hernia if a portion of their intestine protrudes through the abdominal wall.

Surface Forms

umbilical hernia singular
umbilical hernias plural

Morphology

umbilical + hernia

The meaning is directly compositional: 'umbilical' means relating to the navel and 'hernia' means tissue bulging through muscle, so together they denote a hernia at the navel. This is a straightforward noun-noun medical compound with clear cross-linguistic equivalents, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.

Etymology

The noun umbilical hernia comes from umbilical (the area of the 'belly button') and hernia (a 'bulge' where something pushes through a wall). Imagine a small soft lump pushing out at the belly button; that image shows why it means part of the intestine pushing through the belly wall near that spot.