Meaning
Diarrhoea — a loose, upset stomach that keeps you 'running' to the toilet. A plain, everyday term for the complaint, 'running belly' is usually blamed on bad or spoiled food, unripe fruit, or too much rich, heavy eating, and it is treated with the household remedies: bush teas, plain rice water, and rest. 'Belly' is simply the stomach in Patois, and the vivid, picture-making name captures the urgent, repeated running the condition brings.
Examples
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Di food nuh gree wid mi, now mi have running belly.
The food didn't agree with me, now I've got diarrhoea.
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Bwile some cerasee tea fi di running belly.
Boil some cerasee tea for the diarrhoea.
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Too much green mango gi di pickney running belly.
Too many green mangoes gave the child diarrhoea.
Origin
Descriptive: the 'belly' that keeps you 'running' to the toilet — a plain-spoken name for diarrhoea.
How it’s used
The common everyday word for diarrhoea; cerasee tea is a traditional remedy.