different between combe vs comber

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 *kumb?. Doublet of cwm.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: ko?om, IPA^(key): /ku?m/
• Homophone: cwm
• Rhymes: -u?m

Noun

combe (plural combes)

1. A valley, often wooded and often with no river
   • 1914, Saki, ‘The Cobweb’, Beasts and Superbeasts:

   • 1805, Robert Southey, Madoc

2. A cirque.

Usage notes

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

Translations

Further reading

• combe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From Transalpine Gaulish *cumba, from Proto-Celtic *kumb?. Compare Breton komm (“river-bed”), Irish com, Welsh cwm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??b/

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 (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Noun

combe f

1. plural of comba

Middle English

Noun

combe

1. Alternative form of comb

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.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English comber, camber, equivalent to comb +? -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k??m?/
• (US) enPR: k??m?r, IPA^(key): /?ko?m?/
• Homophone: coma (in non-rhotic accents)

Noun

comber (plural combers)

1. A person who combs wool, etc.
2. A machine that combs wool, etc.
3. A long, curving wave breaking on the shore.
   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka (republished by Eland, 2019; p. 118):

     The mighty combers crashed down with long echoing reverberations like the roar of great cannons, followed by the ominous swish of broken water rushing across the reef in mad clouds of foam and spray.

Synonyms

• (long curving wave): breaker

Derived terms

• beachcomber

Translations

Etymology 2

Wikispecies This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?mb?/
• (US) enPR: käm?b?r, IPA^(key): /?k?mb?/

Noun

comber (plural combers)

1. Serranus cabrilla, the gaper, a fish found in European waters.

Derived terms

• brown comber (Serranus hepatus)
• painted comber (Serranus picta)
• comber wrasse (comb wrasse, Labrus bergylta, syn. Labrus comber)

Translations

Anagrams

• recomb