Ambushed

How to spell ambushed

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ambushed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ambushed mean?

1. verbAttacked or surprised someone suddenly from a concealed position.

Ambushed in a sentence

• The patrol was ambushed as it crossed the narrow valley.

• Reporters ambushed the minister with unexpected questions outside the office.

Where does ambushed come from?

Language of origin: French

This word descends from the Old French embuscher, which literally meant 'to set in the bushes' or 'to hide in wait among the woods'. That verb was built from the prefix en- 'in' and the root busch 'bush' or 'woods', a word of Germanic origin that English also kept in the everyday noun 'bush'. The idea behind the whole word is wonderfully concrete: soldiers concealing themselves in dense undergrowth so they could surprise an enemy. English borrowed it in the 1400s, first as 'embush' and later settling into the modern 'ambush', and added the regular -ed ending to form the past tense. The link to 'bush' is the easiest way to remember the spelling: there is a literal bush hiding inside the word.

How the word is built

• ambush (from Old French embuscher: to set in the bushes, to lay a trap)
• -ed (past tense / past participle suffix)