combe
See also: Combe and combé
English
Alternative forms
- comb, coomb, coombe
Etymology
From Middle English coumbe, cumbe, from Old English cumb, from Proto-Brythonic (compare Welsh cwm), from Proto-Celtic *kumbā. Doublet of cwm.
Pronunciation
- (UK) enPR: ko͞om, IPA(key): /kuːm/
- Homophones: coom, cwm
- Rhymes: -uːm
Noun
combe (plural combes)
- A valley, often wooded and often with no river
- 1914, Saki, ‘The Cobweb’, Beasts and Superbeasts:
- its long, latticed window [...] looked out on a wild spreading view of hill and heather and wooded combe.
- 1805, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Madoc, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and A[rchibald] Constable and Co, […], by James Ballantyne, […], OCLC 1015515387:
- gradual rise the shelving combe displayed.
- 1914, Saki, ‘The Cobweb’, Beasts and Superbeasts:
- A cirque.
Usage notes
Used, especially in South West England, in many placenames, e.g. Compton, Wycombe.
Translations
deep, narrow valley
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Further reading
- combe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
French
Etymology
From Transalpine Gaulish *cumba, from Proto-Celtic *kumbā. Compare Breton komm (“river-bed”), Irish com, Welsh cwm.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɔ̃b/
Noun
combe f (plural combes)
- (geography) combe (valley or hollow, often wooded and with no river)
Further reading
- “combe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkom.be/
- Rhymes: -ombe
- Hyphenation: cóm‧be
Noun
combe f
- plural of comba
Middle English
Noun
combe
- Alternative form of comb
Spanish
Verb
combe
- inflection of combar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative