comb
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comb¹
- /kəʊm/ UK
- /koʊm/ US
- /kəʉm/ Australia
- /kɐʉm/ New Zealand
- /kom/ Scotland
- /koːm/ Wales
Rhymes with -əʊm
Where it comes from
From Middle English comb, from Old English camb (“comb”), from Proto-West Germanic *kamb, from Proto-Germanic *kambaz (“comb”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (“tooth”), a doublet of cam. The verb is derived from the noun and displaced the older verb kemb.
Cognates
Compare Saterland Frisian Koum, Swedish/Dutch kam, Danish kam, Norwegian kam, German Kamm; also Tocharian B keme, Lithuanian žam̃bas (“sharp edge”), Old Church Slavonic зѫбъ (zǫbŭ), Albanian dhëmb, Ancient Greek γομφίος (gomphíos, “backtooth, molar”), Sanskrit जम्भ (jambha)).
noun combs
- A toothed implement for grooming the hair or (formerly) for keeping it in place. There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs;[…].
- A machine used in separating choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.
- The toothed plate at the top and bottom of an escalator that prevents objects getting trapped between the moving stairs and fixed landings.
- A toothed tool used for chasing screws on work in a lathe; a chaser.
- The notched scale of a wire micrometer.
- The collector of an electrical machine, usually resembling a comb.
- A toothed plate used for creating wells in agar gels for electrophoresis.
- A toothed wooden pick used to push the weft thread tightly against the previous pass of thread to create a tight weave.
- One of a pair of peculiar organs on the base of the abdomen in scorpions, with which they comb substrate.
- A ctene. Ctenophores are mostly planktonic creatures about the size and shape of a kiwi fruit or grape, bearing rows of beating "combs."
- A fleshy growth on the top of the head of some birds and reptiles; crest. I also obtained here a specimen of the rare green jungle-fowl (Gallus furcatus), whose back and neck are beautifully scaled with bronzy feathers, and whose smooth-edged oval comb is of a violet purple colour, changing to green at the base.
- A crest (of metal, leather, etc) on a piece of armor, especially on a helmet. The head-dress of the Horse Grenadiers consists of a peculiar leather helmet with a comb of bear's skin passing over it from ear to ear and a long scarlet […]
- The top part of a gun’s stock.
- A structure of hexagon cells made by bees for storing honey; honeycomb. The combs of the wild bees are found on overhanging precipices, and the only means by which they can be reached is to descend from above on narrow cane ladders just wide enough for a man’s foot, and often 300 feet to 400 feet long.
- The main body of a harmonica containing the air chambers and to which the reed plates are attached.
- A former, commonly cone-shaped, used in hat manufacturing for hardening soft fibre.
- An old English measure of corn equal to the half quarter. But the comb or half quarter is very general in the Eastern counties, particularly in Norfolk.
- The curling crest of a wave; a comber.
- A connected and reduced curve with irreducible components consisting of a smooth subcurve (called the handle) and one or more additional irreducible components (called teeth) that each intersect the handle in a single point that is unequal to the unique point of intersection for any of the other teeth.
- A kind of vertical plate in a lode.
verb combs · combing · combed
- Especially of hair or fur, to groom with a toothed implement, especially a comb. I like the way you comb your hair / And I like those stylish clothes you wear / It's just the little things you do / That show how much you really care
- To separate choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers.
- To search thoroughly as if raking over an area with a comb. Police combed the field for evidence after the assault.
- To roll over, as the top or crest of a wave; to break with a white foam, as waves.
- To turn a vessel parallel to (the track of) (a torpedo) so as to reduce one's size as a target. The aircraft split up so as to attack from different, preselected bearings, thus confusing the gunners and making it difficult for the ship to comb torpedo tracks.
comb²
- /kɒmb/ UK
Where it comes from
From combination.
noun combs
-
Abbreviation of combination
Similar: combo
comb³
- /kuːm/
noun combs
- Alternative form of combe
comb⁴
- /kuːm/
noun combs
- Alternative form of coomb [Regarding a period of agricultural depression] Even on the good land where the farmer hadn't enough capital to look after it and have it properly drained he couldn't hold on. He'd be getting a yield of eight combs of wheat and ten combs of barley per acre. But that wasn't good enough: it gave him n
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: ransack, coxcomb, cockscomb, disentangle, comb out, wipe, sweep, scavenge, sweeping, crest, stamping, peak, radiation, drag, ridge, search
Translations
Every language
noun toothed implement for grooming the hair
| Español | peine, peineta |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 빗 bit |
| 日本語 | 櫛 kushi |
| 中文 | 梳子 shūzi, 篦 bì, 木梳 mùshū |
| हिन्दी | कंघी kaṅghī |
| Kiswahili | kitana |
| Português | pente |
| Français | peigne |
| Deutsch | Kamm |
| Italiano | pettine |
| Ελληνικά | χτένα chténa |
| Română | pieptene |
| Русский | расчёска rasčóska, гре́бень grébenʹ, гребёнка grebjónka, гребешо́к grebešók |
| Tiếng Việt | lược |
| العربية | مُشْط mušṭ, مِشْط mišṭ, مِمْشَط mimšaṭ |
| עברית | מַסרֵק masrek |
noun toothed plate on an escalator
| Deutsch | Kamm |
|---|
noun fleshy growth on the top of the head of some birds and reptiles
| Español | cresta |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 볏 byeot |
| Português | crista |
| Français | crête |
| Deutsch | Kamm |
| Italiano | cresta |
| Русский | гре́бень grébenʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | mào, mồng |
verb to groom the hair with a toothed implement
| Español | peinar, peinarse |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 빗다 bitda |
| 日本語 | 解かす tokasu |
| 中文 | 梳 shū, 篦 bì |
| Português | pentear |
| Français | peigner, coiffer |
| Deutsch | kämmen |
| Italiano | pettinare |
| Ελληνικά | χτενίζω chtenízo |
| Română | pieptăna |
| Русский | причёсывать pričósyvatʹ, причеса́ть pričesátʹ, расчёсывать rasčósyvatʹ, расчеса́ть rasčesátʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | chải |
| العربية | مَشَطَ mašaṭa, مَشَّطَ maššaṭa |
| עברית | סָרַק saráq, סֵרֵק seréq |
verb to separate choice cotton fibers from worsted cloth fibers
| Português | pentear |
|---|---|
| Français | peigner |
| Ελληνικά | ξαίνω xaíno |
| Русский | чеса́ть česátʹ |
verb to search thoroughly as if raking over an area with a comb
| Español | peinar |
|---|---|
| Português | passar um pente-fino |
| Français | passer au peigne fin, ratisser |
| Deutsch | durchkämmen |
| Русский | прочёсывать pročósyvatʹ, прочеса́ть pročesátʹ |
| עברית | סָרַק saráq |
Talk about this word "comb." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/comb. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. comb. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/comb "comb." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/comb.Cite this
@misc{comb_2026,
title = {comb},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/comb},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
