COMBE or COOMB, a term particularly popular in south western England for a short closed-in valley, either inland on the side of a down or, more generally, when it forms a small coastal feature. It appears in place-names as a termination, e.g., Ilfracombe, and as a prefix, e.g., Combemartin. The etymology of the word is uncertain; in English combe or cumb is an obsolete word for a "hollow vessel," and a similar meaning is attached to the Teutonic forms kumm and kumme. The Welsh cwm, in place names, means hollow or valley, and may be compared with cum in several Cumbrian and Scots place-names. The Greek Ki i 3rl also means a hollow vessel, and there is a French dialect word combe meaning a little valley.