​NAVEL (O. Eng. nafela, a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Nabel, Swed. nafvel; the Sanskrit is nābhīla; the English root is also seen in “nave,” the hub of a wheel), in anatomy, the umbilicus (Gr. ὀμφαλός), the depression in the abdomen which indicates the point through which the embryo mammal obtained nourishment from its mother (see Anatomy: section Superficial and Artistic).