Ambush
/ˈæm.bʊʃ/noun
A surprise attack made from a concealed position.
Did you know?Ambush comes through Old French from a Germanic root meaning “to place in a wood,” originally tied to hiding people inside a forested place before the attack.
Etymological Timeline
Germanic root
PGmc
*busk- / *buskaz
“wood, bush, thicket”
Old French
OF
embusche
“a hiding place in a wood; an ambush”
Middle English
ME
ambusche
“a concealed military attack”
15th Century
English
ambush
“a surprise attack from hiding”
Modern English
English
ambush
“a surprise attack made from a concealed position”