Abs

How to spell abs

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce abs

What does abs mean?

1. nounThe muscles of the stomach area, especially when toned or developed through exercise.

Abs in a sentence

• The trainer set a routine to strengthen her abs before the marathon.

• Daily planks gradually built up his abs over a few months.

Where does abs come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is a casual modern clipping of the longer word abdominals, the muscles of the belly, which itself rests on the Latin noun abdomen, meaning the part of the body that holds the stomach and lower organs. The Latin abdomen may be linked to abdere, a verb meaning to hide or to put away, the idea being that these organs are tucked out of sight within the body. English took abdomen straight from Latin in the sixteenth century as an anatomical term, and the adjective abdominal followed. The breezy short form abs belongs to the world of gyms, fitness magazines, and exercise videos, and it became common only in the later twentieth century as physical training entered everyday talk. Because it is simply the front of abdominals with an -s plural sound preserved, the spelling is wholly phonetic and gives almost no trouble.

How the word is built

• abs (clipped plural of abdominals, from abdomen)
• -s already built into the shortened form