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The belly, that part of the body that contains all of the structures between the chest and the pelvis.

The abdomen includes a host of organs including the stomach, small intestine, colon,rectum, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, appendix, gallbladder, and bladder.

The word "abdomen" has a curious story behind it. It comes from the Latin "abdodere", to hide. The idea was that whatever was eaten was hidden in the abdomen.

In vertebrates, the abdomen is a large cavity enclosed by the abdominal muscles, ventrally and laterally, and by the vertebral column dorsally. Lower ribs can also enclose ventral and lateral walls. The abdominal cavity is continuous with the pelvic cavity. It is separated from the thoracic cavity by the diaphragm. Structures such as the aorta, inferior vena cava and esophagus pass through the diaphragm. Both the abdominal and pelvic cavities are lined by a serous membrane known as the parietal peritoneum. This membrane is continuous with the visceral peritoneum lining the organs. The abdomen in vertebrates contains a number of organs belonging, for instance, to the digestive tract and urinary system.

Abdominal organs can be highly specialized in some animals. For example the stomach of ruminants (a suborder of mammals) is divided into four chambers - rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum.

The invertebrate abdomen is built up of a series of concave upper plates known astergites and convex lower plates known as sternites, the whole being held together by a tough yet stretchable membrane.

The abdomen contains the insect's digestive tract and reproductive organs, it consists of eleven segments in most orders of insects though the eleventh segment is absent in the adult of most higher orders. The number of these segments does vary from species to species with the number of segments visible reduced to only seven in the common honeybee. In the Collembola (Springtails) the abdomen has only six segments.

The abdomen is sometimes highly modified. In ants, the first segment of the abdomen is fused to the thorax and called the propodeum. The second segment forms the narrow petiole. Some ants have an additional postpetiole segment, and the remaining segments form the bulbous gaster. The petiole and gaster (abdominal segments 2 and onward) are collectively called the metasoma.

Unlike other Arthropods, insects possess no legs on the abdomen in adult form, though the Protura do have rudimentary leg-like appendages on the first three abdominal segments, and Archaeognatha possess small, articulated "styli" which are sometimes considered to be rudimentary appendages. Many larval insects including the Lepidoptera and the Symphyta (Sawflies) have fleshy appendages called prolegson their abdominal segments (as well as their more familiar thoracic legs), which allow them to grip onto the edges of plant leaves as they walk around.