The scientific name borborygmus is related to the 16th-century French word borborygme, itself from Latin, ultimately from Ancient Greek βορβορυγμός (borborygmós).

Other causes of stomach rumbles: If symptoms are minimal, treat by: Avoid foods such as beans and peas along with coarse grains and dried fruits.

In Ada, Vladimir Nabokov wrote: "All the toilets and waterpipes in the house had been suddenly seized with borborygmic convulsions".

[7] Graham Greene's short story "Alas, Poor Maling" tells the tale of a luckless individual whose borborygmus takes the form of irritating noises that he has recently heard.

In an article in The Atlantic, Graeme Wood[8] used the word to describe the effects of mass refugee migration into Europe: "Central Europe had to digest a massive refugee flow from Syria and Afghanistan, and the resulting borborygmus upended European politics and enabled a populist wave that has yet to crest."