kemben
Middle English
FWOTD – 22 March 2020
Etymology
From Old English cemban, from Proto-West Germanic *kambijan, from Proto-Germanic *kambijaną.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkɛm(b)ən/, /ˈkeːm(b)ən/
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)
infinitive | (to) kemben, kembe | ||
---|---|---|---|
present tense | past tense | ||
1st-person singular | kembe | kembed, kempte | |
2nd-person singular | kembest | kembedest, kemptest | |
3rd-person singular | kembeth | kembed, kempte | |
subjunctive singular | kembe | ||
imperative singular | — | ||
plural1 | kemben, kembe | kembeden, kembede, kempten, kempte | |
imperative plural | kembeth, kembe | — | |
participles | kembynge, kembende | kembed, kempt, ykembed, ykempt |
1Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- “kẹ̄̆mben, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-31.
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