yellow-bellied
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Meaning
Definition 1: cowardly or lacking courage.
Definition 2: having a yellow belly or underside, used in the names of some animals and birds.
Structure
Usage
He was called a yellow-bellied coward for refusing to confront the bully.
The yellow-bellied sapsucker is a common woodpecker in North American forests.
Don't be so yellow-bellied; stand up for what you believe in.
Etymology
The compound adjective "yellow-bellied" originated in the early 19th century as a literal descriptor for animals, such as birds or snakes, with yellowish underparts. Its figurative sense of "cowardly" emerged in American English around the 1920s, likely influenced by the long-standing association of the color yellow with concepts like jealousy, sickness, and treachery, but more directly from the idea that a coward's liver was supposedly lacking blood or was "white-livered." The logic of the insult transfers a visible physical trait from the animal kingdom to imply a lack of moral or courageous fortitude in a person.
Analysis
- yellow: From Old English geolu, geolwe, of Germanic origin, related to gold. Denotes the color. - bellied: From Old English belg (bag, pouch, belly). The suffix -ed forms an adjective meaning "having a [specified kind of] belly."