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Added 9 October 2026

comb

/kəʊm/ noun

In Latin: pecten Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about comb at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A flat device with narrow pointed teeth on one edge; disentangles or arranges hair.
The fleshy red crest on the head of the domestic fowl and other gallinaceous birds.
Any of several tools for straightening fibers.

verb

Straighten with a comb.
comb your hair
Search thoroughly.
They combed the area for the missing child
Smoothen and neaten with or as with a comb.
comb your hair before dinner

Origin

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)).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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