cwm

See also: Cwm and CWM

English
WOTD – 23 July 2010
A cwm on the south side of Rhinog Fawr, in Wales.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Welsh cwm (“valley”). Doublet of combe.

Pronunciation
  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /kuːm/, /kʊm/[1][2][3][4]
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Homophones: combe, coom, khoum (some pronunciations)
  • Rhymes: -uːm

Noun

cwm (plural cwms)

  1. A valley head created through glacial erosion and with a shape similar to an amphitheatre.
    Synonyms: cirque, combe, corrie

Translations

References
  1. The Chambers Dictionary, 9th Ed., 2003
  2. “cwm”, in Collins English Dictionary.
  3. “cwm”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.. Accessed 7 September 2013.
  4. “cwm”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Further reading

Welsh

Etymology

From Middle Welsh cwm, from Proto-Brythonic *komm, from Proto-Celtic *kumbā, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱumbʰ-.

See also Breton komm (“trough”), Irish com, coim (“chest cavity”), French combe); also Latin incumbere (“to lie down”), English coomb and Old English cumb (“hollow; narrow valley”), Dutch kom (“bowl, basin”), German Kumpf (“vessel”), Ancient Greek κύμβη (kúmbē, “hollow”),Sanskrit कुम्भ (kumbha, “a pot, jug”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /kʊm/
  • Rhymes: -ʊm

Noun

cwm m (plural cymau or cymoedd or cymydd)

  1. valley, dale, glen

Descendants
  • → English: cwm

Mutation
Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
cwm gwm nghwm chwm
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References
  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “cwm”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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