Wordwyrt

ambush

/ˈæmˌbʊʃ/AM-buush
/ˈæmˌbʊʃ/AM-buush

Meaninghide in a wood

Common meaning: surprise attack from concealment

Journey through time

  1. Late Latinimboscare‘hide in a wood’source
  2. Old Frenchmeaning shiftshide in a wood → place in hidingembuscher‘place in hiding’source
  3. Englishmeaning shiftsplace in hiding → surprise attack from concealmentambush‘surprise attack from concealment’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Late Latin imboscare ‘hide in a wood’.

Source words

  • imboscare Late Latin · source word “hide in a wood”

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app