Belch comes from Old English bealcian, bealcettan ('to belch, bring up'), of imitative origin, echoing the sound of eructation. The historical trail runs through bealcian in Old English. Its formation is sound-symbolic rather than a regular transparent compound, with the older form echoing the sound named in the history. Used as a verb and noun, belch now means "emit wind noisily from the stomach; to expel forcefully", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as belched and belching. The word is therefore part of the inherited Germanic layer of English, even where later usage has narrowed, broadened, or specialized the sense.