midriff
/ˈmɪdrɪf
/noun
1The region of the front of the body between the chest and the waist: she wore a top that showed her midriff...
- She wore a black, leather, sleeveless top that laced in the front, leaving her midriff bare.
- It starts to occur in the chest instead of the midriff.
- Her dress had a large tear cut across the midriff under her chest so that it hung open, revealing most of her stomach.
1.1 Anatomy, dated The diaphragm.
Origin
Old English midhrif, from mid1 + hrif 'belly'.
The second part of midriff is Old English hrif ‘belly’, which goes back to the same root as Latin corpus ‘body’, the source of many English words including corporation (Late Middle English), one of whose meanings is ‘a protruding abdomen’.