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combe

Landscape
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A combe is a small, usually steep-sided valley or hollow in hilly country, especially in southern and western Britain.

Detailed Definition
In Landscape description, a combe is a narrow valley, often enclosed by rounded or wooded slopes and sometimes containing a stream. The word is especially associated with place names and rural scenery in Wales and southwest England. Poets use combe to evoke an intimate, sheltered feature of a natural Landscape rather than a broad, open valley.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “In the Valley of the Elwy,” the speaker praises the Welsh countryside: “Lovely the woods, waters, meadows, combes, vales.” Here, combes refers to the smaller hollows or narrow valleys among the Landscape’s woods and meadows. By placing “combes” beside “vales,” Hopkins suggests a varied terrain, from enclosed dips in the hills to wider valleys.
Additional Notes
Combe is chiefly a British term, particularly common in southern and western England and in Wales. It is closely related in meaning to cwm, the Welsh word for a valley or hollow; cwm is often used for a steep, bowl-shaped mountain valley. The spelling coombe is also common, especially in English place names such as Ilfracombe and Castle Combe. Do not confuse a combe with a broad river valley: a combe is generally smaller, more enclosed, and associated with hills or slopes. The word comes into English through an old Celtic or Brittonic Landscape term meaning “valley” or “hollow.”
Also Known As
Coombe Hollow Narrow Valley Sheltered Dell coomb
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