body

English Online Dictionary. What means body‎? What does body mean?

English

Alternative forms

• bodie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English bodi, bodiȝ, from Old English bodiġ (“body, trunk, chest, torso, height, stature”), from Proto-West Germanic *bodag (“body, trunk”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (“to be awake, observe”). Cognate with Old High German botah (whence Swabian Bottich (“body, torso”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒd.i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑ.di/, [ˈbɑ.ɾi]
• Homophone: bawdy (cot–caught merger)
• Hyphenation: bod‧y
• Rhymes: -ɒdi

Noun

body (countable and uncountable, plural bodies)

1. Physical frame.
   2. (countable) The physical structure of a human or animal seen as one single organism. [from 9th c.]
   4. The fleshly or corporeal nature of a human, as opposed to the spirit or soul. [from 13th c.]

   6. (countable) A corpse. [from 13th c.]

   8. (archaic or informal except in compounds) A person. [from 13th c.]
      • Folio Society 1973, page 463:

   9. (sociology) A human being, regarded as marginalized or oppressed.
2. Main section.
   1. The torso, the main structure of a human or animal frame excluding the extremities (limbs, head, tail). [from 9th c.]

   2. The largest or most important part of anything, as distinct from its appendages or accessories. [from 11th c.]

   3. (archaic) The section of a dress extending from the neck to the waist, excluding the arms. [from 16th c.]

   4. The content of a letter, message, or other printed or electronic document, as distinct from signatures, salutations, headers, and so on. [from 17th c.]

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

   (countable) A bodysuit. [from 19th c.]

   1. (programming) The code of a subroutine, contrasted to its signature and parameters. [from 20th c.]

   2. (architecture, of a church) nave.
4. Coherent group.
   1. A group of people having a common purpose or opinion; a mass. [from 16th c.]

   3. An organisation, company or other authoritative group. [from 17th c.]

   4. A unified collection of details, knowledge or information. [from 17th c.]

5. Material entity.
   2. (countable) Any physical object or material thing. [from 14th c.]

   3. (uncountable) Substance; physical presence. [from 17th c.]

   4. (uncountable) Comparative viscosity, solidity or substance (in wine, colours etc.). [from 17th c.]
   5. An agglomeration of some substance, especially one that would be otherwise uncountable.
6. (printing) The shank of a type, or the depth of the shank (by which the size is indicated).
7. (geometry) A three-dimensional object, such as a cube or cone.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:body
• See also Thesaurus:corpse

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• English terms starting with “body”

Translations

See also

• corporal
• corporeal

Verb

body (third-person singular simple present bodies, present participle bodying, simple past and past participle bodied)

1. (transitive, often with forth) To give body or shape to something.
2. To construct the bodywork of a car.
3. (transitive) To embody.
4. (transitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To murder someone.
   1. (by extension) To utterly defeat someone.

References

• “body v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

Further reading

• body on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• BYOD, Boyd, Doby, do by

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbodɪ]
• Rhymes: -odɪ
• Hyphenation: bo‧dy

Etymology 1

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from bodysuit.

Noun

body n (indeclinable)

1. bodysuit, leotard

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

body

1. nominative/accusative/vocative/instrumental plural of bod

Anagrams

• doby

Dutch

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from bodysuit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔ.di/
• Hyphenation: bo‧dy

Noun

body m (plural body's, diminutive body'tje n)

1. bodysuit, leotard, onesie
   1. (garment worn by adult)

      Synonyms: bodystocking, onesie

   2. (garment worn by infant or small child)

      Synonyms: romper, rompertje, kruippakje

2. body, substance

Finnish

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from bodysuit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbody/, [ˈbo̞dy]
• IPA^(key): /ˈbodi/, [ˈbo̞di]
• Rhymes: -ody
• Homophone: bodi
• Syllabification^(key): bo‧dy
• Hyphenation^(key): bo‧dy

Noun

body

1. snapsuit, onesies (infant bodysuit)

   Synonym: potkupuku

2. bodystocking (one-piece article of lingerie)

   Synonyms: bodi, body stocking

Declension

Further reading

• “body”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[3] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

Hawaiian Creole

Etymology

Derived from English body.

Noun

body

1. (countable) body (the physical structure of a human or animal seen as one single organism)

Italian

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, a clipping of English bodysuit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔ.di/
• Rhymes: -ɔdi
• Hyphenation: bò‧dy

Noun

body m (invariable)

1. leotard

   Synonym: calzamaglia

Further reading

• body in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Polish

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from bodysuit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔ.dɘ/
• Rhymes: -ɔdɘ
• Syllabification: bo‧dy

Noun

body n (indeclinable)

1. bodysuit, leotard

Further reading

• body in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• body in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from bodysuit.

Pronunciation

• (Northeast Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbɔ.di/
• Rhymes: -ɔdi, -ɔdʒi, -ɔri
• Homophone: bode (Brazil)

Noun

body m (plural bodies)

1. bodysuit, leotard

Further reading

• “body”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English body.

Noun

body n (plural body-uri)

1. bodysuit

Declension

Scots

Alternative forms

• bodie

Etymology

From Middle English body, bodiȝ, from Old English bodiġ, bodeġ (“body, trunk, chest, torso, height, stature”).

Noun

body (plural bodies)

1. body
2. person, human being

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɔdi]

Noun

body n (indeclinable)

1. bodysuit

Further reading

• “body”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Spanish

Noun

body m (plural bodys or bodies)

1. Alternative spelling of bodi

Further reading

• “body”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10