# Rumblings Abdominal -- The Physiological Explanation, Please? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumblings-abdominal-the-physiological-explanation-please/354136 "2006-04-25T13:26:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumblings-abdominal-the-physiological-explanation-please/354136/1 "2006-04-25T13:26:49Z")
> [@](#): > > I went to the Bishop’s for tea. > 'Twas just as I’d feared it would be: > His rumblings abdominal > Were simply phenomenal, > And everyone thought it was me! I suspect many if not most of us have had the experience of having audible noises come from the abdomen, as something moves through the alimentary canal and creates sound in the process. I presume that generally it is gas, internally generated by biochemical reactions to foodstuff digestion, with perhaps the occasional liquid. But I’m wondering where along the esophagus-to-rectum sequence this normally occurs, what (in terms of reactions, not foodstuffs) normally causes it, etc. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumblings-abdominal-the-physiological-explanation-please/354136/2 "2006-04-25T14:05:07Z")
Can I glom onto your question and also ask about sounds that emerge when one is super-hungry? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumblings-abdominal-the-physiological-explanation-please/354136/3 "2006-04-25T14:27:08Z")
It’s called borborygmi: > [@](#): > > When you have gone for a few hours without eating, your brain tells you it’s time to eat. It sends messages which cause peristaltic or wavelike muscle contractions that sweep through the walls of the stomach. The contractions mix food in your stomach with digestive juices and move the mix down into the intestines. Especially when there is no food in the stomach, the fluid and mucus in the stomach combined with all that movement in the intestines make gurgling and growling sounds. That’s borborygmi. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumblings-abdominal-the-physiological-explanation-please/354136/4 "2006-04-25T14:40:10Z")
More accurately, _they’re_ called borborygmi. Borborygmi is the plural of borborygmus. Pedantic, yes. But that’s gotta be one of the all time great words. It’s right up there with _tenesmus_ - which sometimes follows those borborygmi. I’ll leave the curious to look up tenesmus. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumblings-abdominal-the-physiological-explanation-please/354136/5 "2006-04-25T15:41:36Z")
And _tenesmus_ goes hand-in-hand with _dyschezia_. Vocabulary fun! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rumblings-abdominal-the-physiological-explanation-please/354136/6 "2006-04-25T16:19:26Z")
Borborygmi is not limited to times when the stomach is empty. Many conditions of gas or water passing through the intestines can make loudly audible sounds. Often, the sounds signal that an inadequate amount of water has been absorbed properly, and a bout of diarrhea soon follows. Gas may similarly be expelled, violently, no long after when the contractions hit the colon. An experienced ear can follow the sounds as the contents move through the convolutions of the small intestine.