midriff
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\n \n Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 1, 2024 is:\n \n
\n \n\n midriff • \\MID-riff\\ • noun
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Midriff refers to the area around a person\u2019s middle, that is, the front of their body between the chest and the waist.
\n\n// Even the store\u2019s winter line of clothing includes a number of midriff-baring tops, albeit paired with oversized cardigans or flannel shirts.
\n\n\n \n \n\n Examples:
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\u201c\u2018I can be terribly self-involved,\u2019 he says, though you can\u2019t be sure whether he\u2019s warning her or bragging. She introduces him to her parents\u2014an all but unwatchable clash of opposites, with Tomas rolling up late in a sheer black crop top, covered in dragons, that leaves his midriff bare.\u201d \u2014 Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2023
\n \n \n\n Did you know?
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Today, the word midriff is likely to evoke a plummy tummy or some fab abs, but the \u201cmid-torso\u201d sense of midriff is relatively young, having bellied up to the bar of English usage only in the early 19th century. For most of its history, midriff has been used to refer to the diaphragm, the large flat muscle that separates the lungs from the stomach area (and contracts spasmodically when we hiccup). This diaphragm sense has been around for at least 1,000 years, with the earliest known uses of midriff\u2014which comes from the Old English word hrif, meaning \u201cwomb\u201d or \u201cbelly\u201d\u2014being found in manuscripts such as Bald\u2019s Leechbook, a medical text that is believed to date back to the mid 10th century. To riff on the vernacular of the 21st century, that kind of lexical staying power is far from mid.
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