maw

Meaning

1. The stomach, especially of an animal.
2. The upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the mouth and jaws of a fearsome and ravenous creature.
3. (slang) The mouth.
4. Any large, insatiable or perilous opening.
5. Appetite; inclination.
6. The swim bladder of a fish, especially when used as food in Chinese cuisine.

Concepts

maw

abomasum

mouth

gullet

trap

stomach

gob

throat

abyss

jaws

muzzle

tunnel

crop

cakehole

hole

yap

pharynx

chasm

divide

gulf

ravine

gut

tummy

maw seed

crop of a bird

womb

belly

gorge

neck

neckband

scrag

mouthpiece

mug

stoma

rennet-bag

reed tripe

oral fissure

gab

fauces

station throat

upper airway

upper respiratory tract

Pronounced as (IPA)

/mɔː/

Etymology

From Middle English mawe, maghe, maȝe, from Old English maga (“stomach; maw”), from Proto-West Germanic *magō, from Proto-Germanic *magô (“belly; stomach”), from Proto-Indo-European *mak-, *maks- (“bag, bellows, belly”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian mage, Dutch maag (“stomach; belly”), German Low German Maag, German Magen (“stomach”), Danish mave,
Norwegian mage (“stomach”), Swedish mage (“stomach; belly”), and also with Welsh megin (“bellows”), archaic Russian мошна́ (mošná, “pocket, bag”), Lithuanian mãkas (“purse”), Finnish maha (“stomach”), Estonian magu (“stomach”).