kemben
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English
Noun
kemben (plural kembens)
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English cemban, from Proto-West Germanic *kambijan, from Proto-Germanic *kambijaną.
Pronunciation
Noun
kemben (third-person singular simple present kembeth, present participle kembynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative kempte, past participle kempt)
- To comb or brush one's hair; to use a comb.
- a. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knight's Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 3690–3691:
- But first he cheweth greyn and lycorys / To smellen sweete, er he hadde kembd his heer.
- Though first he chews spices and licorice, / To smell sweet before he'd combed his hair.
- (rare) To prettify or nicen.
- (rare) To untangle fibres; to card.
Conjugation
Conjugation of kemben (weak in -ed/-te)
1Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.
Derived terms
Descendants
- English: kemb (obsolete except for kempt, unkempt), comb (remodelled on the noun)
- Scots: kem, keme
- Yola: khimed (preterite)
References
- “kẹ̄̆mben, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-31.