comba

See also: Comba and combá

Galician

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese combo (“bent, curved”) (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria). Ultimately from Proto-Celtic *kumbā (compare Welsh cwm and Irish com).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkombɐ]

Noun

comba f (plural combas)

1. curve, bend
2. skipping rope
3. fork lightning

Related terms

• camboa
• combar

Adjective

comba

1. curved, bent (feminine singular of combo)

Derived terms

• Cabanacomba (literally “curved cabin”), a hamlet name

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “combo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “comba”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “comba”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “comba”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Etymology 2

Verb

comba

1. inflection of combar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Etymology

From Transalpine Gaulish *cumba.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkom.ba/
• Rhymes: -omba
• Hyphenation: cóm‧ba

Noun

comba f (plural combe)

1. coombe, combe (valley)

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkõ.bɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkõ.bɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkõ.ba/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈkõ.bɐ/

Noun

comba f (plural combas)

1. (geography) combe; coombe (deep, narrow valley)

Further reading

• “comba”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “comba”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Etymology 2

Verb

comba

1. inflection of combar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Romansh

Alternative forms

• chomma (Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader)
• tgomba (Sutsilvan)
• tgomma (Surmiran)
• chamma (Puter)

Etymology

From Late Latin gamba (“hoof”) (compare Italian gamba), from Ancient Greek καμπή (kampḗ, “bend”).

Noun

comba f (plural combas)

1. (Sursilvan, anatomy) leg

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkomba/ [ˈkõm.ba]
• Rhymes: -omba
• Syllabification: com‧ba

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Asturian comba, from combu (“curved”), from Medieval Latin cumba, from Proto-Celtic *kumbā (“valley”).

Noun

comba f (plural combas)

1. rope
2. (Spain, exercise) jump rope

Derived terms

• perder la comba

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

comba

1. inflection of combar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “comba”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025