borborygmus
- The rumbling or gurgling noise produced by the movement of gas through the intestines.
In a sentence
- The physician reassured the patient that the persistent borborygmus was simply a sign of normal digestive activity.
- During the silent exam, her borborygmus seemed impossibly loud, and she pressed her arm against her stomach hoping to muffle it.
Usage note. The plural is 'borborygmi'; the word is standard in medical contexts and adds precise or humorous formality in general writing when you want to avoid the informal 'stomach growling.'
Where it comes from
English borborygmus · entered English 18th c.
From Greek 'borborygmos,' meaning a rumbling of the bowels, itself of imitative (onomatopoeic) origin, mimicking the sound of intestinal gurgling. The word entered English medical and anatomical writing in the early 18th century and remains the standard clinical term.