Origin: before 900; Middle English; Old English comb, camb; cognate with Old High German kamb (German Kamm), Old Norse kambr,Greek gómphos pin, peg, gomphíos molar tooth; see cam
O.E. camb "comb," lit. "toothed object," from W.Gmc. *kambaz, from PIE *gombhos, from base *gembh- "to bite, tooth" (cf. Gk. gomphos "a molar tooth," Skt. gambha-s "tooth"). As a verb, replaced O.E. cemban, which survives in unkempt.