combe

See also: Combe and combé

English

Alternative forms

• comb
• coomb
• coombe

Etymology

From Middle English coumbe, cumbe, from Old English cumb, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Brythonic (compare Welsh cwm), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Celtic *kumbā.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ko͞om, IPA^(key): /kuːm/
• Homophone: cwm
• Rhymes: -uːm

Noun

combe (plural combes)

1. A valley or hollow, often wooded and 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.

   • Southey

     A gradual rise the shelving combe displayed.

2. A cirque.

Usage notes

Used, especially in South West England, in many placenames, e.g. Compton, Wycombe.

Translations

deep, narrow valley

• Portuguese: comba f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Further reading

• combe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  *cumba, from Proto-Celtic *kumbā. Compare Breton komm (“river-bed”), Irish com, Welsh cwm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃b/

Noun

combe f (plural combes)

1. (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.

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Italian

Noun

combe f

1. plural of comba

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Middle English

Noun

combe

1. Alternative form of comb

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Spanish

Verb

combe

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of combar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of combar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of combar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of combar.