Proto-North Caucasian: *kīrV (~-ē-)
Meaning: chest; belly, entrails
Notes: Reconstructed for the PEC level (with a sporadic metathesis in Av.-And.-Tsez.). Abdokov (1983, 93) lists also Darg. =akʷ 'middle' (which we were unable to identify) and Ud. bukun 'belly' (a misspelling of buq:un which goes back to quite another root, PEC *bɦĕrƛ̣_V q.v.). He compares this set of EC forms with PWC *kʷǝ 'middle'. Since the only reliable EC data point clearly to *kīrV or *kērV, this etymology is to be rejected.