What the word compound mean

Recent Examples on the Web



The logistical nightmares only compound a lifelong sense of rootlessness and alienation.


Jocelyn C. Zuckerman, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Apr. 2023





That gap compounds over time, as women take two years longer on average to pay off their debt, the interest adding up all the while.


Alia Wong, USA TODAY, 3 Apr. 2023





Trump’s current rivals face much the same problem, and the indictment compounds it.


David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2023





The drop comes amid the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in recent weeks, compounding existing fears of a recession.


Chris Pandolfo, Fox News, 24 Mar. 2023





Now, Unilever’s exit from the two production lines implies job losses—755 people worked for it in fiscal 2021—compounding Nigeria’s employment crisis.


Faustine Ngila, Quartz, 23 Mar. 2023





Small actions compound and create the net effect of better leadership.


Anne Sugar, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2023





Additionally, alarming racial disparities in stillbirth rates have compounded the crisis.


Duaa Eldeib, ProPublica, 23 Mar. 2023





Further compounding the problem was the virus itself, which may have prevented police officers from entering homes during domestic violence incidents.


USA Today, 23 Mar. 2023




Now, game developers, fitness manufacturers, and app designers are eager to take advantage of an at-home-fitness market expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 percent from 2021 to 2027, according to Allied Market Research.


Suzie Glassman, Wired, 21 Dec. 2021





And despite hard seltzer’s recent drop-off in growth, Research Markets projects the industry’s global market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.4% from 2021 to 2026.


Brooks Sutherland, The Enquirer, 17 Dec. 2021





German Sacristan, the director of print-on-demand services, said demand is projected to soar past pre-pandemic production by next year and to continue rising at a compound annual rate of 8 percent through 2025.


NBC News, 19 Nov. 2021





Metaverse Gets Real: AR And VR On The Rise Influencer Marketing Hub predicts that virtual reality will have a compound annual growth rate of 15% by 2030.


Raviteja Dodda, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2023





This is why Grand View projects the market’s compound annual growth rate to be a staggering 9.4% for the next several years, equating to the market more than doubling to $525.2 billion by 2030.


Serenity Gibbons, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2023





With a market share of roughly $571 million in 2021, the compound annual growth rate of green burial practices is expected to be 8.7% until 2030.


Kira Mautone, Fox News, 18 Feb. 2023





As Fortune previously reported, the global cybersecurity market is expected to reach $403 billion by 2027—making the compound annual growth rate 12.5% from 2020 to 2027.


Bylucy Brewster, Fortune, 15 Feb. 2023





According to a report from Grand View Research, the US gender-affirming surgery market was valued at $1.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 11.23 percent from 2022 to 2030.


Suzy Katz, Allure, 7 Feb. 2023




The local Buddhist temple in Baan Ta Klang lets villagers tie up their elephants in its compound, which also has an elephant cemetery.


Muktita Suhartono, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Apr. 2023





The local Buddhist temple in Baan Ta Klang lets villagers tie up their elephants in its compound, which also has an elephant cemetery.


Muktita Suhartono Ulet Ifansasti, New York Times, 1 Apr. 2023





Confrontations at the hilltop compound have triggered wider violence in the region in the past.


Isabel Debre, ajc, 1 Apr. 2023





Other insects may need to contact the compound in order to detect it, and they may be repelled by the taste.


Claire Gillespie, Health, 31 Mar. 2023





The family began construction in the early ‘90s and the compound took several decades to complete, according to Tere Foster of Compass, who holds the listing with colleague Moya Skillman.


Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 30 Mar. 2023





Best to lock him up in his resort compound and pitch the key into the Atlantic Ocean.


Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2023





Without it, the compounds remain relatively inert, like the food in your freezer.


Sophia Chen, WIRED, 29 Mar. 2023





Those concerns are largely justified: The compound’s presence in the U.S. drug supply has sent overdose rates soaring.


Lev Facher, STAT, 28 Mar. 2023



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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘compound.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word or sign) that consists of more than one stem. Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. Compounding occurs when two or more words or signs are joined to make a longer word or sign. A compound that uses a space rather than a hyphen or concatenation is called an open compound or a spaced compound; the alternative is a closed compound.

The meaning of the compound may be similar to or different from the meaning of its components in isolation. The component stems of a compound may be of the same part of speech—as in the case of the English word footpath, composed of the two nouns foot and path—or they may belong to different parts of speech, as in the case of the English word blackbird, composed of the adjective black and the noun bird. With very few exceptions, English compound words are stressed on their first component stem.

As a member of the Germanic family of languages, English is unusual in that even simple compounds made since the 18th century tend to be written in separate parts. This would be an error in other Germanic languages such as Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, and Dutch. However, this is merely an orthographic convention: As in other Germanic languages, arbitrary noun phrases, for example «girl scout troop», «city council member», and «cellar door», can be made up on the spot and used as compound nouns in English too.

For example, German «Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän» would be written in English as «Danube steamship transport company captain» and not as «Danubesteamshiptransportcompanycaptain».

The addition of affix morphemes to words (such as suffixes or prefixes, as in employemployment) should not be confused with nominal composition, as this is actually morphological derivation.

Some languages easily form compounds from what in other languages would be a multi-word expression. This can result in unusually long words, a phenomenon known in German (which is one such language) as Bandwurmwörter or tapeworm words.

Sign languages also have compounds. They are created by combining two or more sign stems.

So-called «classical compounds» are compounds derived from classical Latin or ancient Greek roots.

Formation of compounds[edit]

Compound formation rules vary widely across language types.

In a synthetic language, the relationship between the elements of a compound may be marked with a case or other morpheme. For example, the German compound Kapitänspatent consists of the lexemes Kapitän (sea captain) and Patent (license) joined by an -s- (originally a genitive case suffix); and similarly, the Latin lexeme paterfamilias contains the archaic genitive form familias of the lexeme familia (family). Conversely, in the Hebrew language compound, the word בֵּית סֵפֶר bet sefer (school), it is the head that is modified: the compound literally means «house-of book», with בַּיִת bayit (house) having entered the construct state to become בֵּית bet (house-of). This latter pattern is common throughout the Semitic languages, though in some it is combined with an explicit genitive case, so that both parts of the compound are marked, e.g. Arabic عبد الله ʕabd-u l-lāh-i (servant-NOM DEF-god-GEN) «servant of-the-god: the servant of God».

Agglutinative languages tend to create very long words with derivational morphemes. Compounds may or may not require the use of derivational morphemes also. In German, extremely
extendable compound words can be found in the language of chemical compounds, where, in the cases of biochemistry and polymers, they can be practically unlimited in length, mostly because the German rule suggests combining all noun adjuncts with the noun as the last stem. German examples include Farb­fernsehgerät (color television set), Funk­fernbedienung (radio remote control), and the often quoted jocular word Donau­dampfschifffahrts­gesellschafts­kapitänsmütze (originally only two Fs, Danube-Steamboat-Shipping Company captain[‘s] hat), which can of course be made even longer and even more absurd, e.g. Donau­dampfschifffahrts­gesellschafts­kapitänsmützen­reinigungs­ausschreibungs­verordnungs­diskussionsanfang («beginning of the discussion of a regulation on tendering of Danube steamboat shipping company captain hats») etc. According to several editions of the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest published German word has 79 letters and is Donau­dampfschiffahrts­elektrizitäten­hauptbetriebswerkbau­unterbeamten­gesellschaft («Association for Subordinate Officials of the Main Electric[ity] Maintenance Building of the Danube Steam Shipping»), but there is no evidence that this association ever actually existed.

In Finnish, although there is theoretically no limit to the length of compound words, words consisting of more than three components are rare. Even those with fewer than three components can look mysterious[clarification needed] to non-Finnish speakers, such as hätäuloskäynti (emergency exit). Internet folklore sometimes suggests that lentokone­suihkuturbiinimoottori­apumekaanikko­aliupseerioppilas (Airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student) is the longest word in Finnish, but evidence of its actual use is scant and anecdotal at best.[1]

Compounds can be rather long when translating technical documents from English to some other language, since the lengths of the words are theoretically unlimited, especially in chemical terminology. For example, when translating an English technical document to Swedish, the term «Motion estimation search range settings» can be directly translated to rörelse­uppskattnings­sökintervalls­inställningar, though in reality, the word would most likely be divided in two: sökintervalls­inställningar för rörelse­uppskattning – «search range settings for motion estimation».

Subclasses[edit]

Semantic classification[edit]

A common semantic classification of compounds yields four types:

  • endocentric
  • exocentric
  • copulative
  • appositional

An endocentric compound (tatpuruṣa in the Sanskrit tradition) consists of a head, i.e. the categorical part that contains the basic meaning of the whole compound, and modifiers, which restrict this meaning. For example, the English compound doghouse, where house is the head and dog is the modifier, is understood as a house intended for a dog. Endocentric compounds tend to be of the same part of speech (word class) as their head, as in the case of doghouse.

An exocentric compound (bahuvrihi in the Sanskrit tradition) is a hyponym of some unexpressed semantic category (such as a person, plant, or animal): none (neither) of its components can be perceived as a formal head, and its meaning often cannot be transparently guessed from its constituent parts. For example, the English compound white-collar is neither a kind of collar nor a white thing. In an exocentric compound, the word class is determined lexically, disregarding the class of the constituents. For example, a must-have is not a verb but a noun. The meaning of this type of compound can be glossed as «(one) whose B is A», where B is the second element of the compound and A the first. A bahuvrihi compound is one whose nature is expressed by neither of the words: thus a white-collar person is neither white nor a collar (the collar’s colour is a metonym for socioeconomic status). Other English examples include barefoot.

Copulative compounds (dvandva in the Sanskrit tradition) are compounds with two semantic heads, for example in a gradual scale (such a mix of colours).

Appositional compounds are lexemes that have two (contrary or simultaneous) attributes that classify the compound.

Type Description Examples
endocentric A+B denotes a special kind of B darkroom, smalltalk
exocentric A+B denotes a special kind of an unexpressed different semantic meaning C redhead, scarecrow
copulative A+B denotes ‘the sum’ of what A and B denote bittersweet, sleepwalk
appositional A and B provide different descriptions for the same referent hunter-gatherer, maidservant

Syntactic classification[edit]

Noun–noun compounds[edit]

All natural languages have compound nouns. The positioning of the words (i.e. the most common order of constituents in phrases where nouns are modified by adjectives, by possessors, by other nouns, etc.) varies according to the language. While Germanic languages, for example, are left-branching when it comes to noun phrases (the modifiers come before the head), the Romance languages are usually right-branching.

English compound nouns can be spaced, hyphenated, or solid, and they sometimes change orthographically in that direction over time, reflecting a semantic identity that evolves from a mere collocation to something stronger in its solidification. This theme has been summarized in usage guides under the aphorism that «compound nouns tend to solidify as they age»; thus a compound noun such as place name begins as spaced in most attestations and then becomes hyphenated as place-name and eventually solid as placename, or the spaced compound noun file name directly becomes solid as filename without being hyphenated.

German, a fellow West Germanic language, has a somewhat different orthography, whereby compound nouns are virtually always required to be solid or at least hyphenated; even the hyphenated styling is used less now than it was in centuries past.

In French, compound nouns are often formed by left-hand heads with prepositional components inserted before the modifier, as in chemin-de-fer ‘railway’, lit. ‘road of iron’, and moulin à vent ‘windmill’, lit. ‘mill (that works)-by-means-of wind’.

In Turkish, one way of forming compound nouns is as follows: yeldeğirmeni ‘windmill’ (yel: wind, değirmen-i: mill-possessive); demiryolu ‘railway’ (demir: iron, yol-u: road-possessive).

Occasionally, two synonymous nouns can form a compound noun, resulting in a pleonasm. One example is the English word pathway.

Verb–noun compounds[edit]

A type of compound that is fairly common in the Indo-European languages is formed of a verb and its object, and in effect transforms a simple verbal clause into a noun.

In Spanish, for example, such compounds consist of a verb conjugated for the second person singular imperative followed by a noun (singular or plural): e.g., rascacielos (modelled on «skyscraper», lit. ‘scratch skies’), sacacorchos ‘corkscrew’ (lit. ‘pull corks’), guardarropa ‘wardrobe’ (lit. ‘store clothes’). These compounds are formally invariable in the plural (but in many cases they have been reanalyzed as plural forms, and a singular form has appeared). French and Italian have these same compounds with the noun in the singular form: Italian grattacielo ‘skyscraper’, French grille-pain ‘toaster’ (lit. ‘toast bread’).

This construction exists in English, generally with the verb and noun both in uninflected form: examples are spoilsport, killjoy, breakfast, cutthroat, pickpocket, dreadnought, and know-nothing.

Also common in English is another type of verb–noun (or noun–verb) compound, in which an argument of the verb is incorporated into the verb, which is then usually turned into a gerund, such as breastfeeding, finger-pointing, etc. The noun is often an instrumental complement. From these gerunds new verbs can be made: (a mother) breastfeeds (a child) and from them new compounds mother-child breastfeeding, etc.

Verb-noun compounds derived from classical languages tend to be nouns; rarely, a verb-noun classical compound can be a verb. One example is miscegenate, a word that literally falls into disuse nowadays, which is derived from a Latin verb and a Latin noun. In the Australian Aboriginal language Jingulu, a Pama–Nyungan language, it is claimed that all verbs are V+N compounds, such as «do a sleep», or «run a dive», and the language has only three basic verbs: do, make, and run.[2]

A special kind of compounding is incorporation, of which noun incorporation into a verbal root (as in English backstabbing, breastfeed, etc.) is most prevalent (see below).

Verb–verb compounds[edit]

Verb–verb compounds are sequences of more than one verb acting together to determine clause structure. They have two types:

  • In a serial verb, two actions, often sequential, are expressed in a single clause. For example, Ewe trɔ dzo, lit. «turn leave», means «turn and leave», and Hindi जाकर देखो jā-kar dekh-o, lit. «go-CONJUNCTIVE PARTICIPLE see-IMPERATIVE«, means «go and see». In Tamil, a Dravidian language, van̪t̪u paːr, lit. «come see». In each case, the two verbs together determine the semantics and argument structure.

Serial verb expressions in English may include What did you go and do that for?, or He just upped and left; this is however not quite a true compound since they are connected by a conjunction and the second missing arguments may be taken as a case of ellipsis.

  • In a compound verb (or complex predicate), one of the verbs is the primary, and determines the primary semantics and also the argument structure. The secondary verb, often called a vector verb or explicator, provides fine distinctions, usually in temporality or aspect, and also carries the inflection (tense and/or agreement markers). The main verb usually appears in conjunctive participial (sometimes zero) form. For examples, Hindi निकल गया nikal gayā, lit. «exit went», means ‘went out’, while निकल पड़ा nikal paRā, lit. «exit fell», means ‘departed’ or ‘was blurted out’. In these examples निकल nikal is the primary verb, and गया gayā and पड़ा paRā are the vector verbs. Similarly, in both English start reading and Japanese 読み始める yomihajimeru «read-CONJUNCTIVE-start» «start reading», the vector verbs start and 始める hajimeru «start» change according to tense, negation, and the like, while the main verbs reading and 読み yomi «reading» usually remain the same. An exception to this is the passive voice, in which both English and Japanese modify the main verb, i.e. start to be read and 読まれ始める yomarehajimeru lit. «read-PASSIVE-(CONJUNCTIVE)-start» start to be read. With a few exceptions, all compound verbs alternate with their simple counterparts. That is, removing the vector does not affect grammaticality at all nor the meaning very much: निकला nikalā ‘(He) went out.’ In a few languages both components of the compound verb can be finite forms: Kurukh kecc-ar ker-ar lit. «died-3pl went-3pl» ‘(They) died.’
  • Compound verbs are very common in some languages, such as the northern Indo-Aryan languages Hindustani and Punjabi, and Dravidian languages like Tamil, where as many as 20% of verb forms in running text are compound. They exist but are less common in other Indo-Aryan languages like Marathi and Nepali, in Tibeto-Burman languages like Limbu and Newari, in Turkic languages like Turkish and Kyrgyz, in Korean and Japanese, and in northeast Caucasian languages like Tsez and Avar.
  • Under the influence of a Quichua substrate speakers living in the Ecuadorian altiplano have innovated compound verbs in Spanish:
De rabia puso rompiendo la olla, ‘In anger (he/she) smashed the pot.’ (Lit. from anger put breaking the pot)
Botaremos matándote ‘We will kill you.’ (Cf. Quichua huañuchi-shpa shitashun, lit. kill-CP throw.1plFut.
Likewise in Hindi: तेरे को मार डालेंगे tere ko mār DāleNge, lit. «we will kill-throw you»).
  • Compound verb equivalents in English (examples from the internet):
What did you go and do that for?
If you are not giving away free information on your web site then a huge proportion of your business is just upping and leaving.
Big Pig, she took and built herself a house out of brush.
  • Caution: In descriptions of Persian and other Iranian languages the term ‘compound verb’ refers to noun-plus-verb compounds, not to the verb–verb compounds discussed here.

Parasynthetic compounds[edit]

Parasynthetic compounds are formed by a combination of compounding and derivation, with multiple lexical stems and a derivational affix. For example, English black-eyed is composed of black, eye, and -ed ‘having’, with the meaning ‘having a black eye’;[3] Italian imbustare is composed of in- ‘in’, busta ‘envelope’, -are (verbal suffix), with the meaning ‘to put into an envelope’.[4]

Compound adpositions[edit]

Compound prepositions formed by prepositions and nouns are common in English and the Romance languages (consider English on top of, Spanish encima de, etc.). Hindi has a small number of simple (i.e., one-word) postpositions and a large number of compound postpositions, mostly consisting of simple postposition ke followed by a specific postposition (e.g., ke pas, «near»; ke nīche, «underneath»).

Examples from different languages[edit]

Chinese (traditional/simplified Chinese; Standard Chinese Pinyin/Cantonese Jyutping):

  • 學生/学生 ‘student’: 學 xué/hok6 learn + 生 shēng/sang1 living being
  • 太空/太空 ‘space’: 太 tài/taai3 great + 空 kōng/hung1 emptiness
  • 摩天樓/摩天楼 ‘skyscraper’: 摩 /mo1 touch + 天 tiān/tin1 sky + 樓 lóu/lau2 building (with more than 1 storey)
  • 打印機/打印机 ‘printer’: 打 /daa2 strike + 印 yìn/yan3 stamp/print + 機 /gei1 machine
  • 百科全書/百科全书 ‘encyclopaedia’: 百 bǎi/baak3 hundred + 科 /fo1 (branch of) study + 全 quán/cyun4 entire/complete + 書 shū/syu1 book
  • 謝謝/谢谢 ‘thanks’: Repeating of 謝 xiè thank

Dutch:

  • arbeids­ongeschiktheids­verzekering ‘disability insurance’: arbeid ‘labour’ + ongeschiktheid ‘inaptitude’ + verzekering ‘insurance’.
  • rioolwater­zuiverings­installatie ‘sewage treatment plant’: riool ‘sewer’ + water ‘water’ + zuivering ‘cleaning’ + installatie ‘installation’.
  • verjaardags­kalender ‘birthday calendar’: verjaardag ‘birthday’ + kalender ‘calendar’.
  • klantenservice­medewerker ‘customer service representative’: klanten ‘customers’ + service ‘service’ + medewerker ‘worker’.
  • universiteits­bibliotheek ‘university library’: universiteit ‘university’ + bibliotheek ‘library’.
  • doorgroei­mogelijkheden ‘possibilities for advancement’: door ‘through’ + groei ‘grow’ + mogelijkheden ‘possibilities’.

Finnish:

  • sanakirja ‘dictionary’: sana ‘word’ + kirja ‘book’
  • tietokone ‘computer’: tieto ‘knowledge data’ + kone ‘machine’
  • keskiviikko ‘Wednesday’: keski ‘middle’ + viikko ‘week’
  • maailma ‘world’: maa ‘land’ + ilma ‘air’
  • rautatieasema ‘railway station’: rauta ‘iron’ + tie ‘road’ + asema ‘station’
  • kolmivaihe­kilowattitunti­mittari ‘electricity meter’: ‘three-phase kilowatt hour meter’

Sewage-treatment-facility — The German language has many compounds.

German:

  • Wolkenkratzer ‘skyscraper’: Wolken ‘clouds’ + Kratzer ‘scraper’
  • Eisenbahn ‘railway’: Eisen ‘iron’ + Bahn ‘track’
  • Kraftfahrzeug ‘automobile’: Kraft ‘power’ + fahren/fahr ‘drive’ + Zeug ‘machinery’
  • Stacheldraht ‘barbed wire’: Stachel ‘barb/barbed’ + Draht ‘wire’
  • Rinder­kennzeichnungs- und Rindfleisch­etikettierungs­überwachungs­aufgaben­übertragungs­gesetz: literally cattle-marking- and beef-labeling-supervision-duties-delegation law

Ancient Greek:

  • φιλόσοφος philosopher: φίλος phílos ‘beloved’ + σοφία sophíā ‘wisdom’
  • δημοκρατία dēmokratíā ‘democracy’: δῆμος dêmos ‘people’ + κράτος ‘rule’
  • ῥοδοδάκτυλος rhododáktylos ‘rose-fingered’: ῥόδον rhódon ‘rose’ + δάκτυλος dáktylos ‘finger’ (a Homeric epithet applied to the Dawn)

Icelandic:

  • járnbraut ‘railway’: járn ‘iron’ + braut ‘path’ or ‘way’
  • farartæki ‘vehicle’: farar ‘journey’ + tæki ‘apparatus’
  • alfræðiorðabók ‘encyclopedia’: al ‘everything’ + fræði ‘study’ or ‘knowledge’ + orðabók ‘dictionary’ (orða ‘words’ + bók ‘book’)
  • símtal ‘telephone conversation’: sím ‘telephone’ + tal ‘dialogue’

Italian:

  • millepiedi ‘centipede’: mille ‘thousand’ + piedi ‘feet’
  • ferrovia ‘railway’: ferro ‘iron’ + via ‘way’
  • tergicristallo ‘windscreen wiper’: tergere ‘to wash’ + cristallo ‘crystal (pane of) glass’
  • pomodoro: pomo d’oro = apple of Gold = tomatoes
  • portacenere = porta cenere = ashtray

Japanese:

  • 目覚まし(時計) mezamashi(dokei) ‘alarm clock’: 目 me ‘eye’ + 覚まし samashi (-zamashi) ‘awakening (someone)’ (+ 時計 tokei (-dokei) clock)
  • お好み焼き okonomiyaki: お好み okonomi ‘preference’ + 焼き yaki ‘cooking’
  • 日帰り higaeri ‘day trip’: 日 hi ‘day’ + 帰り kaeri (-gaeri) ‘returning (home)’
  • 国会議事堂 kokkaigijidō ‘national diet building’: 国会 kokkai ‘national diet’ + 議事 giji ‘proceedings’ + 堂 ‘hall’

Korean:

  • 안팎 anpak ‘inside and outside’: 안 an ‘inside’ + 밖 bak ‘outside’ (As two nouns compound the consonant sound ‘b’ fortifies into ‘p’ becoming 안팎 anpak rather than 안밖 anbak)

Ojibwe/Anishinaabemowin:

  • mashkikiwaaboo ‘tonic’: mashkiki ‘medicine’ + waaboo ‘liquid’
  • miskomin ‘raspberry’: misko ‘red’ + miin ‘berry’
  • dibik-giizis ‘moon’: dibik ‘night’ + giizis ‘sun’
  • gichi-mookomaan ‘white person/American’: gichi ‘big’ + mookomaan ‘knife’

Spanish:

  • ciencia-ficción ‘science fiction’: ciencia, ‘science’, + ficción, ‘fiction’ (This word is a calque from the English expression science fiction. In English, the head of a compound word is the last morpheme: science fiction. Conversely, the Spanish head is located at the front, so ciencia ficción sounds like a kind of fictional science rather than scientific fiction.)
  • ciempiés ‘centipede’: cien ‘hundred’ + pies ‘feet’
  • ferrocarril ‘railway’: ferro ‘iron’ + carril ‘lane’
  • paraguas ‘umbrella’: para ‘stops’ + aguas ‘(the) water’
  • cabizbajo ‘keeping the head low in a bad mood’: cabeza ‘head’ + bajo ‘down’
  • subibaja ‘seesaw’ (contraction of sube y baja ‘goes up and down’)
  • limpiaparabrisas ‘windshield wiper’ is a nested compound:[5] limpia ‘clean’ + parabrisas windshield, which is itself a compound of para ‘stop’ + brisas ‘breezes’.

Tamil:

  • In Cemmozhi (Classical Tamil), rules for compounding are laid down in grammars such as Tolkappiyam and Nannūl, in various forms, under the name punarcci. Examples of compounds include kopuram from ‘kō’ (king) + ‘puram’ (exterior). Sometimes phonemes may be inserted during the blending process such as in kovil from ‘kō’ (king) + ‘il’ (home). Other types are like vennai (butter) from ‘veḷḷai’ (white) + ‘nei’ (ghee); note how ‘veḷḷai’ becomes ‘ven’.
  • In koṭuntamizh (Non-standard Tamil), parts of words from other languages may be morphed into Tamil. Common examples include ‘ratta-azhuttam’ (blood pressure) from the Sanskrit rakta (blood) and Cemmozhi ‘azhuttam’ (pressure); note how rakta becomes ratta in Tamil order to remove the consonant-cluster. This also happens with English, for examples kāpi-kaṭai (coffee shop) is from English coffee, which becomes kāpi in Tamil, and the Tamil kaṭai meaning shop.

Tłįchǫ Yatiì/Dogrib:

  • dlòotsǫ̀ǫ̀ ‘peanut butter’: dlòo ‘squirrel’ + tsǫ̀ǫ̀ ‘dung’
  • eyakǫ̀ ‘hospital: eya ‘sick’ + kǫ̀ ‘house’
  • dè gotłeè ‘kerosene’: ‘land’ + gotłeè ‘its fat’
  • dǫ łèt’è ‘bannock’: ‘[Aboriginal] people’ + łèt’è ‘bread’

Germanic languages[edit]

In Germanic languages (including English), compounds are formed by prepending what is effectively a namespace (disambiguation context) to the main word. For example, «football» would be a «ball» in the «foot» context. In itself, this does not alter the meaning of the main word. The added context only makes it more precise. As such, a «football» must be understood as a «ball». However, as is the case with «football», a well established compound word may have gained a special meaning in the language’s vocabulary. Only this defines «football» as a particular type of ball (unambiguously the round object, not the dance party, at that), and also the game involving such a ball. Another example of special and altered meaning is «starfish» – a starfish is in fact not a fish in modern biology. Also syntactically, the compound word behaves like the main word – the whole compound word (or phrase) inherits the word class and inflection rules of the main word. That is to say, since «fish» and «shape» are nouns, «starfish» and «star shape» must also be nouns, and they must take plural forms as «starfish» and «star shapes», definite singular forms as «the starfish» and «the star shape», and so on. This principle also holds for languages that express definiteness by inflection (as in North Germanic).

Because a compound is understood as a word in its own right, it may in turn be used in new compounds, so forming an arbitrarily long word is trivial. This contrasts to Romance languages, where prepositions are more used to specify word relationships instead of concatenating the words. As a member of the Germanic family of languages, English is unusual in that compounds are normally written in separate parts. This would be an error in other Germanic languages such as Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German and Dutch. However, this is merely an orthographic convention: As in other Germanic languages, arbitrary noun phrases, for example «girl scout troop», «city council member», and «cellar door», can be made up on the spot and used as compound nouns in English too.

Russian language[edit]

In the Russian language compounding is a common type of word formation, and several types of compounds exist, both in terms of compounded parts of speech and of the way of the formation of a compound.[6]

Compound nouns may be agglutinative compounds, hyphenated compounds (стол-книга ‘folding table’, lit. ‘table-book’, «book-like table»), or abbreviated compounds (acronyms: колхоз ‘kolkhoz’). Some compounds look like acronym, while in fact they are an agglutinations of type stem + word: Академгородок ‘Akademgorodok’ (from akademichesky gorodok ‘academic village’). In agglutinative compound nouns, an agglutinating infix is typically used: пароход ‘steamship’: пар + о + ход. Compound nouns may be created as noun+noun, adjective + noun, noun + adjective (rare), noun + verb (or, rather, noun + verbal noun).

Compound adjectives may be formed either per se (бело-розовый ‘white-pink’) or as a result of compounding during the derivation of an adjective from a multi-word term: Каменноостровский проспект ([kəmʲɪnnʌʌˈstrovskʲɪj prʌˈspʲɛkt]) ‘Stone Island Avenue’, a street in St.Petersburg.

Reduplication in Russian is also a source of compounds.

Quite a few Russian words are borrowed from other languages in an already-compounded form, including numerous «classical compounds» or internationalisms: автомобиль ‘automobile’.

Sanskrit language[edit]

Sanskrit is very rich in compound formation with seven major compound types and as many as 55 sub-types.[7] The compound formation process is productive, so it is not possible to list all Sanskrit compounds in a dictionary. Compounds of two or three words are more frequent, but longer compounds with some running through pages are not rare in Sanskrit literature.[7] Some examples are below (hyphens below show individual word boundaries for ease of reading but are not required in original Sanskrit).

  • हिमालय (IAST Himālaya, decomposed as hima-ālaya): Name of the Himalaya mountain range. Literally the abode of snow.[8] A compound of two words and four syllables.
  • प्रवर-मुकुट-मणि-मरीचि-मञ्जरी-चय-चर्चित-चरण-युगल (IAST pravara-mukuṭa-maṇi-marīci-mañjarī-caya-carcita-caraṇa-yugala): Literally, O the one whose dual feet are covered by the cluster of brilliant rays from the gems of the best crowns, from the Sanskrit work Panchatantra.[7] A compound of nine words and 25 syllables.
  • कमला-कुच-कुङ्कुम-पिञ्जरीकृत-वक्षः-स्थल-विराजित-महा-कौस्तुभ-मणि-मरीचि-माला-निराकृत-त्रि-भुवन-तिमिर (IAST kamalā-kuca-kuṅkuma-piñjarīkṛta-vakṣaḥ-sthala-virājita-mahā-kaustubha-maṇi-marīci-mālā-nirākṛta-tri-bhuvana-timira): Literally O the one who dispels the darkness of three worlds by the shine of Kaustubha jewel hanging on the chest, which has been made reddish-yellow by the saffron from the bosom of Kamalā (Lakshmi), an adjective of Rama in the Kakabhushundi Rāmāyaṇa.[9] A compound of 16 words and 44 syllables.
  • साङ्ख्य-योग-न्याय-वैशेषिक-पूर्व-मीमांसा-वेदान्त-नारद-शाण्डिल्य-भक्ति-सूत्र-गीता-वाल्मीकीय-रामायण-भागवतादि-सिद्धान्त-बोध-पुरः-सर-समधिकृताशेष-तुलसी-दास-साहित्य-सौहित्य-स्वाध्याय-प्रवचन-व्याख्यान-परम-प्रवीणाः (IAST sāṅkhya-yoga-nyāya-vaiśeṣika-pūrva-mīmāṃsā-vedānta-nārada-śāṇḍilya-bhakti-sūtra-gītā-vālmīkīya-rāmāyaṇa-bhāgavatādi-siddhānta-bodha-puraḥ-sara-samadhikṛtāśeṣa-tulasī-dāsa-sāhitya-sauhitya-svādhyāya-pravacana-vyākhyāna-parama-pravīṇāḥ): Literally the acclaimed forerunner in understanding of the canons of Sāṅkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Pūrva Mīmāṃsā, Vedānta, Nārada Bhakti Sūtra, Śāṇḍilya Bhakti Sūtra, Bhagavad Gītā, the Ramayana of Vālmīki, Śrīmadbhāgavata; and the most skilled in comprehensive self-study, discoursing and expounding of the complete works of Gosvāmī Tulasīdāsa.[10] An adjective used in a panegyric of Jagadguru Rambhadracharya. The hyphens show only those word boundaries where there is no sandhi. On including word boundaries with sandhi (vedānta=veda-anta, rāmāyaṇa=rāma-ayana, bhāgavatādi=bhāgavata-ādi, siddhānta=siddha-anta, samadhikṛtāśeṣa=samadhikṛta-aśeṣa, svādhyāya=sva-adhyāya), this is a compound of 35 words and 86 syllables.

Sign languages[edit]

Also in sign languages, compounding is a productive word formation process. Both endocentric and exocentric compounds have been described for a variety of sign languages.[11] Copulative compounds or dvandva, which are composed of two or more nouns from the same semantic category to denote that semantic category, also occur regularly in many sign languages. The sign for parents in Italian Sign Language, for instance, is a combination of the nouns ‘father’ and ‘mother’. The sign for breakfast in American Sign Language follows the same concept. The words eat and morning are signed together to create a new word meaning breakfast.[12] This is an example of a sequential compound; in sign languages, it is also possible to form simultaneous compounds, where one hand represents one lexeme while the other simultaneously represents another lexeme. An example is the sign for weekend in Sign Language of the Netherlands, which is produced by simultaneously signing a one-handed version of the sign for Saturday and a one-handed version of the sign for Sunday.[11] In American Sign Language there is another process easily compared to compounding. Blending is the blending of two morphemes to create a new word called a portmanteau.[13] This is different from compounding in that it breaks the strict linear order of compounding. [14]

Recent trends in orthography[edit]

Although there is no universally agreed-upon guideline regarding the use of compound words in the English language, in recent decades written English has displayed a noticeable trend towards increased use of compounds.[15] Recently, many words have been made by taking syllables of words and compounding them, such as pixel (picture element) and bit (binary digit). This is called a syllabic abbreviation.

In Dutch and the Scandinavian languages there is an unofficial trend toward splitting compound words, known in Norwegian as særskriving, in Swedish as särskrivning (literally «separate writing»), and in Dutch as Engelse ziekte (the «English disease»). Because the Dutch language and the Scandinavian languages rely heavily on the distinction between the compound word and the sequence of the separate words it consists of, this has serious implications. For example, the Danish adjective røykfritt (literally «smokefree», meaning no smoking allowed) if separated into its composite parts, would mean røyk fritt («smoke freely»). In Dutch, compounds written with spaces may also be confused, but can also be interpreted as a sequence of a noun and a genitive (which is unmarked in Dutch) in formal abbreviated writing. This may lead to, for example, commissie vergadering («commission meeting») being read as «commission of the meeting» rather than «meeting of the commission» (normally spelled commissievergadering).

The German spelling reform of 1996 introduced the option of hyphenating compound nouns when it enhances comprehensibility and readability. This is done mostly with very long compound words by separating them into two or more smaller compounds, like Eisenbahn-Unterführung (railway underpass) or Kraftfahrzeugs-Betriebsanleitung (car manual). Such practice is also permitted in other Germanic languages, e.g. Danish and Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk alike), and is even encouraged between parts of the word that have very different pronunciation, such as when one part is a loan word or an acronym.

Compounding by language[edit]

  • Classical compounds
  • English compounds
  • German compounds
  • Sanskrit compounds

See also[edit]

  • Compound modifier
  • Bracketing paradox
  • Etymological calque
  • Genitive connector
  • Incorporation (linguistics)
  • Kenning
  • Multiword expression
  • Neologism
  • Noun adjunct
  • Phono-semantic matching
  • Portmanteau compounds
  • Status constructus
  • Syllabic abbreviation
  • Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein, South African placename
  • Word formation
  • Univerbation: a phrase becomes a word

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ «Seattle FinnFest ’09».
  2. ^ R. Pensalfini, Jingulu Grammar, Dictionary and Texts, PhD thesis (MIT, 1992), 138–9.
  3. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition, June 2005 s.v.
  4. ^ Chiara Melloni, Antonietta Bisetto, «Parasynthetic compounds: data and theory», in Sergio Scalies, Irene Vogel, eds., Cross-Disciplinary Issues in Compounding, ISBN 9789027248275, 2010, p. 199-218
  5. ^ «Diccionario De La Lengua Española : limpiaparabrisas». Real Academia Española. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  6. ^ Student Dictionary of Compound Words of the Russian Language(1978) ISBN 0-8285-5190-1
  7. ^ a b c Kumar, Anil; Mittal, Vipul; Kulkarni, Amba (2010). «Sanskrit Compound Processor». In Jha, Girish Nath (ed.). Sanskrit Computational Linguistics: 4th International Symposium, New Delhi, India, December 10–12, 2010: Proceedings (Volume 6465 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science / Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence Series). Springer. pp. 57–69. ISBN 978-3-642-17527-5.
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. «Himalaya». Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
  9. ^ Kumar, Animesh (May 23, 2007). «Sruti Krta Rama Stuti». Stutimandal.com. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
  10. ^ «Virudavali – Jagadguru Rambhadracharya». Shri Tulsi Peeth Seva Nyas. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  11. ^ a b Quer, Josep; Cecchetto, Carlo; Donati, Caterina; Geraci, Carlo, eds. (2017-11-20). «Part 4: Morphology». Sign Gram Blueprint. SignGram Blueprint. De Gruyter. pp. 163–270. doi:10.1515/9781501511806-009. ISBN 9781501511806. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  12. ^ «compounding in american sign language — Google Search». www.google.com. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  13. ^ «Word formation: compounding and blending in sign language». www.handspeak.com. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  14. ^ Hill, Joseph C. (2017). «Deaf Culture: Exploring Deaf Communities in the United States by Irene W. Leigh, Jean F. Andrews, and Raychelle L. Harris». Sign Language Studies. 18 (1): 162–165. doi:10.1353/sls.2017.0025. ISSN 1533-6263. S2CID 148714617.
  15. ^ Sedivy, Julie (2017-11-16). «The Rise and Fall of the English Sentence». Nautilus. Retrieved 2020-08-02.

References[edit]

  • Kortmann, Bernd: English Linguistics: Essentials, Cornelsen, Berlin 2005.
  • The Oxford Handbook of Compounding, eds. Lieber, Rochelle & Pavol Štekauer, 2009. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Plag, Ingo: Word-formation in English, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003.
  • Scalise Sergio & Irene Vogel (eds.) (2010), Cross-Disciplinary Issues in Compounding, Amsterdam, Benjamins.

External links[edit]

  • Compound word, encyclopedia.com
  • Compounds and multi-word expressions in the languages of Europe by Rita Finkbeiner and Barbara Schlücker, 2019
    • Compounds and multi-word expressions in English by Laurie Bauer, 2019
    • Compounds and multi-word expressions in Finnish by Irma Hyvärinen, 2019
    • Compounds and multi-word expressions in French by Kristel Van Goethem, 2018
    • Compounds and multi-word expressions in German by Barbara Schlücker, 2019
    • Compounds and multi-word expressions in Greek by Maria Koliopoulou, 2019
    • Compounds and multi-word expressions in Hungarian by Ferenc Kiefer, 2019
    • Compounds and multi-word expressions in Italian by Francesca Masini, 2019
    • Compounds and multi-word expressions in Polish by Bozena Cetnarowska, 2019
    • Compounds and multi-word expressions in Russian by Ingeborg Ohnheiser, 2019
    • Compounds and multi-word expressions in Spanish by Jesús Fernández-Domínguez, 2019

Compounding (also known as composition or nominal composition) is important in linguistics because it allows for new words to be made and exists in most, if not all, languages. For some languages (like Chinese) it is a major source of new word formation.

Zero-derivation - the compounds bedroom & dining table - StudySmarterFig. 1 — Compounding combines words to create new words.

What is Compounding?

Compounding (from Latin componere, meaningto put together’) combines two or more words to create a new one.

Steam + boat = Steamboat

Bed + room = Bedroom

Hair + cut = Haircut

Motor + cycle = Motorcycle

Compound elements

A compound is made up of various parts of speech such as a noun, verb, and adverb.

This means that compounds can be a combination of noun plus noun, verb plus noun, adjective plus noun, etc.

The word «bedroom» is made up of two nouns, bed and room.

The word «sunrise» is made up of a noun and a verb, sun and rise.

The word «greenhouse» is made up of an adjective and a noun, green and house.

Compounds can be written as one word, two separate words, or a word with a hyphen.

Note: Compounds are made up of complete words; this process is called nominal composition and should not be confused with morphological derivation.

Morphological derivation is when a new word is made from an existing word, usually by adding prefixes or suffixes. For example, employment is made of the verb employ plus the suffix morpheme —ment.

Classical compounds is another category of compounds, derived from Latin or ancient Greek.

Biography is a compound of the Greek words bios (life) and graphia (writing), which by the 17th century had become biography.

Agriculture is a compound of the Latin words ager (field) and cultura (growing / cultivation) which became ‘agriculture’ in late Middle English.

Pronunciation

Pronunciation can help to determine the meaning of words. Depending on how we pronounce a word, this can change its meaning. One important aspect of our pronunciations is stress. Let’s look at this in more detail:

Stress

Stress in pronunciation is when we place greater emphasis on one syllable or word than on other parts of a sentence; this usually helps us to recognize and understand the meaning of a word.

Stress is useful in helping us to understand the difference between a compound noun and an adjective with a noun. In the following examples, note where the stress falls:

A greenhouse = place where we grow plants (compound noun).

A green house = house painted green (adjective and noun).

A bluebird = type of bird (compound noun).

A blue bird = any bird with blue feathers (adjective and noun).

Compound elements

Noun + noun

bedroom

toothpaste

database

Noun + verb

greenhouse

software

redhead

Adverb + verb

output

overthrow

upturn

input

The Suspended Compound

The suspended compound is used to avoid repetition with longer words.

For example, instead of saying: ‘There are mostly eighteenth-century or nineteenth-century buildings in the town centre,’ we can shorten the first compound and say: » There are mostly eighteenth- or nineteenth-century buildings in the town centre. »

Other examples:

Short- and long-term plans are equally valid.

Both first- and second-class tickets cost the same.

Compounding across the globe

Compounds exist in virtually every language.

Let’s look at some examples from around the world.

English Italian Spanish
science fiction fantascienza ciencia-ficción
science + fiction imaginary + science science + fiction
Dutch English Composition
verjaardagskalender birthday calendar verjaardag ‘birthday’ + calendar ‘calendar’
Klantenserviceemedewerker customer service representative clanten ‘customers’ + service ‘service’ + medewerker ‘worker’
university library university library university ‘university’ + library ‘library’
Chinese English Composition
谢谢 thanks Repeating of 謝 xiè thank
摩天 楼 skyscraper 摩 mó touch + 天 tiān sky + 楼 lóu building (with more than 1 storey
学生 college student 學 xué learn + 生 shēng living being
百科 全書 encyclopaedia 百 bǎi hundred + 科 kē (branch of) study + 全 quán entire / complete + 書 shū book
Finnish English Composition
sanakirja dictionary sana ‘word’ + kirja ‘book’
tietokone computer tieto ‘knowledge data’ + kone ‘machine’
German English Composition
skyscraper skyscraper Clouds’ + scratches’ scraper ‘
railroad railway Iron ‘iron’ + train ‘track’
Ancient Greek English Composition
φιλόσοφος philosopher φίλος phílos ‘beloved’ + σοφία sophíā ‘wisdom’
δημοκρατία democracy δῆμος dêmos ‘people’ + κράτος ‘rule’
Italian English Composition
millepiedi centipede mille ‘thousand’ + piedi ‘feet’
ferrovia railway ferro ‘iron’ + via ‘way’

Compounds and form

Compound nouns can be written in three ways: open form, closed form and hyphenated form.

Open form compounds

An open (or spaced) compound is written as two separate words.

washing machine,

water bottle.

Closed form compounds

A closed (or solid) compound is written as one word.

rainfall,

drawback,

toothpaste.

Hyphenated form compounds

A hyphenated compound is written with a hyphen.

Check in,

hanger-on,

mother-in-law.

Some compounds are made up of two similar-sounding elements, such as:

  • goody-goody,
  • hush-hush,
  • razzle-dazzle.

These are called reduplicative compounds and are usually hyphenated if each element has one or more syllables. However, closed form is also common, as in:

  • crisscross,
  • knickknack,
  • singsong.

Compound subclasses

Compounds are usually made up of two words:

One word gives the basic meaning of the whole compound and is called the head, the other word (the modifier) qualifies this meaning (ie. it gives us more specific information about the head).

Compounds can be divided into four subclasses:

Endocentric

Exocentric

Coordinative

Appositional

Endocentric compounds

In endocentric compounds, the meaning of the whole word tends to be clear and relates to the head.

The first word will be the modifier. The head word comes second and categorizes the compound. This is called a head final. The modifier will qualify the meaning of the head final.

In the compound word cookbook, book is the head (it gives us the main meaning) and cook is the modifier (it tells us what kind of book).

In the compound word doghouse, house is the head and dog is the modifier, and this tells us it is a house intended for a dog.

Endocentric compounds tend to be of the same part of speech (word class) as their head, as in the case of doghouse, which is made up of a noun plus noun .

Cat food tells us what type of food (food intended for cats).

Water bottle tells us what type of bottle (a bottle we can drink water from).

Because the modifier gives us a specialisation of the head word, this type of compound is also known as a descriptive compound.

Zero-derivation - the endocentric compound cookbook - StudySmarterFig. 2 — Cookbook is an endocentric compound.

Exocentric compounds

With exocentric compounds, the meaning is not obvious and often seems unrelated to any part of the compound itself.

Facebook is not a type of book.

Scarecrow is not a type of crow.

Paperback is not a type of back.

Facebook is a social media platform, yet we couldn’t guess this from the words used to make the compound. The same goes for scarecrow, a figure created to scare birds away from crops, and paperback, which is a type of book.

Exocentric compounds lack a clear head and are also often called headless compounds.

Coordinative compounds

Coordinative (or copulative) compounds are compounds with two semantic heads that work in coordination. The meanings will be related, or have similar origins, without being the same thing.

Semantic gives us the meaning or interpretation of a word.

For example, actor-manager means someone who is an actor and a theatre manager.

Producer-director is a person who is a producer and a director.

Camper-trailer is a vehicle that is a camper and a trailer.

Theater-museum is a building that is both a theater and a museum.

Coordinative compounds are often used to describe people’s professions and can be made up of as many as five words.

Designer-builder is a person who designs and builds.

Listener-viewer-reader is a person who lists, watches (films) and reads (books).

Musician-writer-fillmmaker is a musician who is also a professional writer and filmmaker.

Zero-derivation - A musician-writer-filmmaker - StudySmarterFig. 3 — Musician-writer-filmmaker is a coordinative compound.

Appositional compounds

Appositional compounds are made up of (two) words that each describe the compound differently.

For example, instead of saying ‘these prehistoric tribes were both hunters and gatherers’ you could say ‘these prehistoric tribes were hunter-gatherers’.

Player-coach means a person who is both a player and a coach.

Student-teacher is a student who also teaches.

Singer-songwriter is a singer who is also a songwriter.

Table summary

Type Description Examples
Endocentric A + B = a special kind of B Whiteboard, darkroom
Exocentric A + B = an external, unrelated meaning Redhead, cowhand
Coordinative A + B = ‘the sum’ of what A and B denote Producer-director, theater-museum
Appositional

A and B offer different descriptions for the same thing or person

Hunter-gatherer, student-teacher

Brahuvrihi compounds:

Brahuvrihi compounds are a subclass of exocentric compounds, and are also known as possessive compounds. This is when the first part (or word) of the compound is a specific feature of the second.

Hunchback is a person who has a hunched, or very curved, back.

Bluebell is a particular type of bell-shaped flower coloured blue.

A highbrow is a brow that is high (and associated with intelligence or intellect).

White-collar is a collar that is white (and therefore associated with office workers).

Barefoot is used when a person walks about without shoes on

The term comes from Sanskrit bahuvrīhi, which is also this type of compound, from bahu much + vrīh rice.

Possessive or bahuvrihi compounds are often used in English to describe characteristics of people, and can be figurative, or non-literal, in their meaning.

Green thumb suggests a person who is good at growing green things eg a gardener.

Hothead suggests a person with a quick (or ‘hot’) temper.

Egghead suggests someone who is studious or intellectual (originally a ‘bald person’, possibly associated with academics).

Goldilocks is used to describe locks of hair that are golden in color.

Greedyguts suggests someone who has a greedy stomach or is greedy by nature.

Lazybones suggests that a person is idle or lazy.

What are Compound Sentences?

Compound words are a combination of two or more words.

Compound sentences are a combination of two or more independent clauses.

Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. (Joseph Heller, 1923-1999)

In the above sentence, we have three independent clauses. Note how they are linked by commas and the conjunction ‘and’.

A compound sentence has at least two independent clauses. They can be joined by:

  • a semicolon,
  • a comma and coordinating conjunction eg ‘and’, ‘or’ and ‘but’.

«I love to travel, but I hate to arrive.» (Albert Einstein, 1879-1955)

Compounding — key takeaways

  • Compounding combines two or more words to create a new word.
  • A compound is made up of various parts of speech such as noun, verb, and adverb.
  • Compounds can be a combination of noun plus noun, verb plus noun, adjective plus noun etc.
  • Compounds can be written as one word, as two separate words, or as a word with a hyphen.
  • Compounds can be divided into four subclasses: endocentric, exocentric, coordinative and appositional.
  • Compound sentences are a combination of two or more independent clauses, linked by ‘and’, ‘but’ or a semi-colon.
types:

show 362 types…
hide 362 types…
vanillin

a crystalline compound found in vanilla beans and some balsam resins; used in perfumes and flavorings

acceptor

(chemistry) in the formation of a coordinate bond it is the compound to which electrons are donated

adduct

a compound formed by an addition reaction

antiknock

any of various compounds that are added to gasoline to reduce engine knocking

acid

any of various water-soluble compounds having a sour taste and capable of turning litmus red and reacting with a base to form a salt

arsenide

a compound of arsenic with a more positive element

hydrogen cyanide

a highly poisonous gas or volatile liquid that smells like bitter almonds; becomes a gas at around 90 degree Fahrenheit and is most dangerous when inhaled; the anhydride of hydrocyanic acid; used in manufacturing

anionic compound

a compound characterized by an active anion

alkali, base

any of various water-soluble compounds capable of turning litmus blue and reacting with an acid to form a salt and water

binary compound

chemical compound composed of only two elements

taurine

a colorless crystalline substance obtained from the bile of mammals

chromogen

a compound that can be converted to a pigment

manganese tetroxide

an oxide of manganese found naturally as hausmannite

monomer

a simple compound whose molecules can join together to form polymers

ozonide

any of a class of unstable chemical compounds resulting from the addition of ozone to a double bond in an unsaturated compound

organic compound

any compound of carbon and another element or a radical

ammine

a complex inorganic compound that contains ammonia molecules

anhydride

a compound formed from one or more other compounds in a reaction resulting in removal of water

azide

a chemical compound containing the azido group combined with an element or radical

bitter principle

any one of several hundred compounds having a bitter taste; not admitting of chemical classification

buffer

(chemistry) an ionic compound that resists changes in its pH

calcium-cyanamide, cyanamide

a compound used as a fertilizer and as a source of nitrogen compounds

carbonyl

a compound containing metal combined with carbon monoxide

carbon disulfide

a toxic colorless flammable liquid (CS2); used in the manufacture of rayon and cellophane and carbon tetrachloride and as a solvent for rubber

cofactor

a substance (as a coenzyme) that must join with another to produce a given result

cementite, iron carbide

a chemical compound that is a constituent of steel and cast iron; very hard and brittle

chloropicrin, nitrochloroform

a heavy colorless insoluble liquid compound that causes tears and vomiting; used as a pesticide and as tear gas

complex, coordination compound

a compound described in terms of the central atom to which other atoms are bound or coordinated

allomorph

any of several different crystalline forms of the same chemical compound

corrosive

a substance having the tendency to cause corrosion (such a strong acids or alkali)

aluminate

a compound of alumina and a metallic oxide

defoliant

a chemical that is sprayed on plants and causes their leaves to fall off

depilatory

a chemical (usually a sulfide) used to remove hair or wool or bristles from hides

derivative

a compound obtained from, or regarded as derived from, another compound

dimer

a compound whose molecules are composed of two identical monomers

fixer, fixing agent

a chemical compound that sets or fixes something (as a dye or a photographic image)

flavone

a colorless crystalline compound that is part of a number of white or yellow plant pigments

formulation, preparation

a substance prepared according to a formula

enantiomer, enantiomorph

either one of a pair of compounds (crystals or molecules) that are mirror images on each other but are not identical

exotherm

a compound that gives off heat during its formation and absorbs heat during its decomposition

goitrogen

any substance (such as thiouracil) that induces the formation of a goiter

benzofuran, coumarone, cumarone

a colorless oily compound extracted from coal tar and used in manufacturing synthetic resins

synthetic, synthetic substance

a compound made artificially by chemical reactions

hydrate

any compound that contains water of crystallization

hydroxide

a chemical compound containing the hydroxyl group

incense

a substance that produces a fragrant odor when burned

inorganic compound

any compound that does not contain carbon

repellant, repellent

a chemical substance that repels animals

repellant, repellent

a compound with which fabrics are treated to repel water

iodocompound

a compound containing the covalent iodine radical

isomer

a compound that exists in forms having different arrangements of atoms but the same molecular weight

hydrated oxide, hydroxide

a compound of an oxide with water

menthol

a crystalline compound that has the cool and minty taste and odor that occurs naturally in peppermint oil; used as a flavoring and in medicine to relieve itching, pain, and nasal congestion

nitrogen mustard

a toxic compound resembling mustard gas in structure; important in cancer treatment

nitride

a compound containing nitrogen and a more electropositive element (such as phosphorus or a metal)

oxide

any compound of oxygen with another element or a radical

polymer

a naturally occurring or synthetic compound consisting of large molecules made up of a linked series of repeated simple monomers

preservative

a chemical compound that is added to protect against decay or decomposition

benzoquinone, quinone

any of a class of aromatic yellow compounds including several that are biologically important as coenzymes or acceptors or vitamins; used in making dyes

salt

a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal)

caustic

any chemical substance that burns or destroys living tissue

nitrate

any compound containing the nitrate group (such as a salt or ester of nitric acid)

chloride

any compound containing a chlorine atom

heterocycle, heterocyclic, heterocyclic compound

a compound containing a heterocyclic ring

silicide

any of various compounds of silicon with a more electropositive element or radical

siloxane

any of a large class of compounds that have alternate silicon and oxygen atoms

solvate

a compound formed by solvation (the combination of solvent molecules with molecules or ions of the solute)

sternutator, sternutatory

a chemical substance that causes sneezing and coughing and crying

stripper

a chemical compound used to remove paint or varnish

sulfide, sulphide

a compound of sulphur and some other element that is more electropositive

telluride

any binary compound of tellurium with other more electropositive elements

tenderiser, tenderizer

a substance (as the plant enzyme papain) applied to meat to make it tender

tetrachloride

any compound that contains four chlorine atoms per molecule

triazine

any of three isomeric compounds having three carbon and three nitrogen atoms in a six-membered ring

U308, yellowcake

an impure mixture of uranium oxides obtained during the processing of uranium ore

enamel

a colored glassy compound (opaque or partially opaque) that is fused to the surface of metal or glass or pottery for decoration or protection

pregnanediol

a compound found in women’s urine during certain phases of the menstrual cycle and in the urine of pregnant women

cleaner, cleanser, cleansing agent

a preparation used in cleaning something

aldehyde

any of a class of highly reactive chemical compounds; used in making resins and dyes and organic acids

alcapton, alkapton, homogentisic acid

an acid formed as an intermediate product of the metabolism of tyrosine and phenylalanine

Plasticine

a synthetic material resembling clay but remaining soft; used as a substitute for clay or wax in modeling (especially in schools)

acetate, ethanoate

a salt or ester of acetic acid

lead tetraethyl, tetraethyl lead

a clear oily poisonous liquid added to gasoline to prevent knocking

aliphatic compound

organic compound that is an alkane or alkene or alkyne or their derivative

alkylbenzene

organic compound that has an alkyl group bound to a benzene ring

alkyl halide, haloalkane

organic compound in which halogen atoms have been substituted for hydrogen atoms in an alkane

amino acid, aminoalkanoic acid

organic compounds containing an amino group and a carboxylic acid group

citrate

a salt or ester of citric acid

diamine

any organic compound containing two amino groups

enol

an organic compound that contains a hydroxyl group bonded to a carbon atom which in turn is doubly bonded to another carbon atom

arsenate

a salt or ester of arsenic acid

arsenic acid

an acid formed from arsenic pentoxide

cerotic acid, hexacosanoic acid

a white solid fatty acid found in waxes (such as beeswax)

chlorate

any salt of chloric acid

chloric acid

(HClO3) a strong unstable acid with an acrid odor found in chlorate salts

chlorous acid

(HClO2) a strongly oxidizing acid; known only in solution

monobasic acid

an acid containing only one replaceable hydrogen atom per molecule

dibasic acid

an acid containing two replaceable hydrogen atoms per molecule

dibasic salt

a salt derived by replacing two hydrogen atoms per molecule

tribasic acid

an acid containing three replaceable hydrogen atoms per molecule

tetrabasic acid

an acid containing four replaceable hydrogen atoms per molecule

fulminic acid

(CNOH) an unstable acid occurring mainly in the form of explosive salts and esters that is isomeric with cyanic acid

gamma acid

a crystalline acid used to make azo dyes

hydriodic acid

(HI) a colorless or yellow aqueous solution of hydrogen iodide

hydrocyanic acid, prussic acid

a solution of hydrogen cyanide in water; weak solutions are used in fumigating and in the synthesis of organic compounds

hydroxy acid

any acid that has hydroxyl groups in addition to the hydroxyl group in the acid itself

hypochlorite

any salt or ester of hypochlorous acid

hyponitrous acid

an explosive white crystalline weak acid (H2N2O2)

lysergic acid

a crystalline acid often used in medical research; obtained from ergotic alkaloids

manganic acid

a dibasic acid (H2MnO4) found only in solution and in manganate salts

pyrophosphate

a salt or ester of pyrophosphoric acid

2-methylpropenoic acid, methacrylic acid

an unsaturated acid (C4H6O2) used to make resins and plastics

selenic acid

a strong acid (H2SeO4) analogous to sulfuric acid

sulfonate

a salt of sulphonic acid

sulfonic acid, sulphonic acid

an acid derived from sulphuric acid

titanic acid

a white weak acid that is a hydrated form of titanium dioxide

titania, titanic oxide, titanium dioxide, titanium oxide

a white powder used as a pigment for its high covering power and durability

chelate, chelate compound

a heterocyclic compound having a metal ion attached by coordinate bonds to at least two nonmetal ions

halon

a compound in which the hydrogen atoms of a hydrocarbon have been replaced by bromine and other halogen atoms; very stable; used in fire extinguishers although it is thought to release bromine that depletes the ozone layer

phosphor

a synthetic substance that is fluorescent or phosphorescent; used to coat the screens of cathode ray tubes

common salt, sodium chloride

a white crystalline solid consisting mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl)

lactate

a salt or ester of lactic acid

perchlorate

a salt of perchloric acid

perchloric acid

a powerful oxidizing agent; forms perchlorates

pentoxide

an oxide containing five atoms of oxygen in the molecule

peptone

any of various water-soluble compounds that form by hydrolysis in the digestion of proteins to amino acids

quaternary ammonium compound

a compound derived from ammonium with hydrogen atoms replaced by organic groups; used as surface-active agents, disinfectants, and in drugs

proenzyme, zymogen

any of a group of compounds that are inactive precursors of enzymes and require some change (such as the hydrolysis of a fragment that masks an active enzyme) to become active

propylthiouracil

a crystalline compound used as an antithyroid drug in the treatment of goiter

pyridine

a toxic colorless flammable liquid organic base with a disagreeable odor; usually derived from coal

pyrites

any of various metallic-looking sulfides (of which pyrite is the commonest)

purine

a colorless crystalline organic base containing nitrogen; the parent compound of various biologically important substances

purine

any of several bases that are derivatives of purine

ether

any of a class of organic compounds that have two hydrocarbon groups linked by an oxygen atom

acetal

any organic compound formed by adding alcohol molecules to aldehyde molecules

aldehyde-alcohol, aldol

an oily colorless liquid obtained by the condensation of two molecules of acetaldehyde; contains an alcohol group (-OH) and an aldehyde group (-CHO)

alkali

a mixture of soluble salts found in arid soils and some bodies of water; detrimental to agriculture

alkaloid

natural bases containing nitrogen found in plants

amide

any organic compound containing the group -CONH2

rennet

a substance that curdles milk in making cheese and junket

azadirachtin

insecticide

carboxylic acid

an organic acid characterized by one or more carboxyl groups

aminobenzoic acid

a derivative of benzoic acid

ammonia

a pungent gas compounded of nitrogen and hydrogen (NH3)

ammonium chloride, sal ammoniac

a white salt used in dry cells

stercobilinogen, urobilinogen

a chromogen formed in the intestine from the breakdown of bilirubin; yields urobilins on oxidation; some is excreted in the feces and some is resorbed and excreted in bile or urine

aqua fortis, nitric acid

acid used especially in the production of fertilizers and explosives and rocket fuels

nitrous acid

an unstable inorganic acid known only in solution and as nitrite salts

nitrogen oxide

any of several oxides of nitrogen formed by the action of nitric acid on oxidizable materials; present in car exhausts

aqua regia, nitrohydrochloric acid

a yellow fuming corrosive mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid that dissolves metals (including gold)

acetic anhydride

a compound that is needed in order to refine opium into heroin

phthalic anhydride

a white cyclic anhydride

hydrazoite

a salt of hydrazoic acid

thiazine

a compound made up of a ring of four carbon atoms and one sulfur atom and one nitrogen atom

barbituric acid, malonylurea

a white crystalline acid derived from pyrimidine; used in preparing barbiturate drugs

benzoate

any salt or ester of benzoic acid

Prevacid, lansoprazole

antacid (trade name Prevacid) that suppresses acid secretion in the stomach

borate

a salt or ester of boric acid

boracic acid, boric acid

any of various acids containing boron and oxygen

boric acid, orthoboric acid

a white or colorless slightly acid solid that is soluble in water and ethanol; used in the manufacture of glass and paper and adhesives and in detergents and as a flux in welding; also used as an antiseptic and food preservative

borosilicate

a salt of boric and silicic acids

bromic acid

an unstable acid used as an oxidizing agent

cacodyl, tetramethyldiarsine

a poisonous oily liquid with a garlicky odor composed of 2 cacodyl groups; undergoes spontaneous combustion in dry air

calcium carbide

a grey salt of calcium (CaC) used in making acetylene

calcium lactate

a white crystalline salt made by the action of lactic acid on calcium carbonate; used in foods (as a baking powder) and given medically as a source of calcium

calcium nitrate

a deliquescent salt that is soluble in water; sometimes used as a source of nitrogen in fertilizers

burnt lime, calcined lime, calcium oxide, calx, fluxing lime, lime, quicklime, unslaked lime

a white crystalline oxide used in the production of calcium hydroxide

calcium octadecanoate, calcium stearate

an insoluble calcium salt of stearic acid and palmitic acid; it is formed when soap is mixed with water that contains calcium ions and is the scum produced in regions of hard water

carbamate

a salt (or ester) of carbamic acid

carbamic acid

an acid that is known only by virtue of its salts (as ammonium carbamate) or its esters (as urethane)

carbide

a binary compound of carbon with a more electropositive element

cellulose nitrate, guncotton, nitrocellulose, nitrocotton

a nitric acid ester; used in lacquers and explosives

carbolic acid, hydroxybenzene, oxybenzene, phenol, phenylic acid

a toxic white soluble crystalline acidic derivative of benzene; used in manufacturing and as a disinfectant and antiseptic; poisonous if taken internally

carbon tet, carbon tetrachloride, perchloromethane, tetrachloromethane

a colorless nonflammable liquid used as a solvent for fats and oils; because of its toxicity its use as a cleaning fluid or fire extinguisher has declined

carbonate

a salt or ester of carbonic acid (containing the anion CO3)

fulminate

a salt or ester of fulminic acid

carbonic acid

a weak acid known only in solution; formed when carbon dioxide combines with water

neurochemical

any organic substance that occurs in neural activity

acid anhydrides, acyl anhydrides

organic compounds that react with water to form an acid

acid halide, acyl halide

organic compounds containing the group -COX where X is a halogen atom

chromic acid

an unstable acid known only in solution and as chromate salts

chromate

any salt or ester of chromic acid

citric acid

a weak water-soluble acid found in many fruits (especially citrus fruits); used as a flavoring agent

hydrochloride

a complex consisting of an organic base in association with hydrogen chloride

copper oxide

an oxide of copper

aluminium hydroxide, aluminum hydroxide, hydrated aluminium oxide, hydrated aluminum oxide

white crystalline compound that occurs naturally as the mineral gibbsite

coal-tar creosote, creosote

a dark oily liquid obtained by distillation of coal tar; used as a preservative for wood

creosote

a colorless or yellowish oily liquid obtained by distillation of wood tar; used as an antiseptic

cyanamid, cyanamide

a weak soluble dibasic acid (the parent acid of cyanamide salts)

cyanic acid

a colorless poisonous volatile liquid acid that hydrolyzes readily to ammonia and carbon dioxide

cyanide

an extremely poisonous salt of hydrocyanic acid

cyanide, nitril, nitrile

any of a class of organic compounds containing the cyano radical -CN

cyanohydrin

any organic compound in which the cyano radical -CN and the hydroxyl radical -OH are attached to the same carbon atom

cyanuric acid

a trimer of cyanic acid

DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, desoxyribonucleic acid

(biochemistry) a long linear polymer found in the nucleus of a cell and formed from nucleotides and shaped like a double helix; associated with the transmission of genetic information

RNA, ribonucleic acid

(biochemistry) a long linear polymer of nucleotides found in the nucleus but mainly in the cytoplasm of a cell where it is associated with microsomes; it transmits genetic information from DNA to the cytoplasm and controls certain chemical processes in the cell

dioxide

an oxide containing two atoms of oxygen in the molecule

H2O, water

binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent

ester

formed by reaction between an acid and an alcohol with elimination of water

soda niter, sodium nitrate

(NaNO3) used especially as a fertilizer and explosive

niter, nitre, potassium nitrate, saltpeter, saltpetre

(KNO3) used especially as a fertilizer and explosive

potassium bromide

a white crystalline salt (KBr) used as a sedative and in photography

potassium chlorate

a white salt (KClO3) used in matches, fireworks, and explosives; also used as a disinfectant and bleaching agent

potassium dichromate

an orange-red salt used in making dyes and in photography

ferric oxide

a red oxide of iron

ferricyanic acid

a brown unstable acid formed from ferricyanide

ferricyanide

salt of ferricyanic acid obtained by oxidation of a ferrocyanide

ferrocyanic acid

a white unstable acid formed from ferrocyanide salts

ferrocyanide

salt of ferrocyanic acid usually obtained by a reaction of a cyanide with iron sulphate

fixative

a compound (such as ethanol or formaldehyde) that fixes tissues and cells for microscopic study

fluoroboric acid

an acid of fluorine and boron

fluoroboride

a salt of fluoroboric acid

fluosilicate

salt of fluosilicic acid

fluosilicic acid, hydrofluosilicic acid

an unstable poisonous corrosive acid known primarily in the form of its salts

formic acid

a colorless pungent fuming vesicatory liquid acid HCOOH found naturally in ants and many plants or made catalytically from carbon monoxide and steam; used in finishing textiles and paper and in the manufacture of insecticides and fumigants

fumaric acid

a colorless crystalline acid with a fruity taste; used in making polyester resins

furan, furane, furfuran

a colorless toxic flammable liquid used in the synthesis of nylon

gallic acid

a colorless crystalline acid obtained from tannin

glutamate

a salt or ester of glutamic acid

glyceric acid

a syrupy acid obtained by oxidation of glycerol or glyceraldehyde

glycerinated gelatin

a gelatinous preparation made from gelatin and glycerin and water; used as a base for ointments and suppositories

Nitrospan, Nitrostat, glyceryl trinitrate, nitroglycerin, nitroglycerine, trinitroglycerin

a heavy yellow poisonous oily explosive liquid obtained by nitrating glycerol; used in making explosives and medically as a vasodilator (trade names Nitrospan and Nitrostat)

glycoside

a group of compounds derived from monosaccharides

glycolic acid, glycollic acid, hydroxyacetic acid

a translucent crystalline compound found in sugar cane and sugar beets and unripe grapes

resin, rosin

any of a class of solid or semisolid viscous substances obtained either as exudations from certain plants or prepared by polymerization of simple molecules

synthetic resin

a resin having a polymeric structure; especially a resin in the raw state; used chiefly in plastics

copolymer

a polymer consisting of two or more different monomers

polyurethan, polyurethane

any of various polymers containing the urethane radical; a wide variety of synthetic forms are made and used as adhesives or plastics or paints or rubber

halide

a salt of any halogen acid

halocarbon

one of various compounds of carbon and any of the halogens

hemiacetal

an organic compound usually formed as an intermediate product in the preparation of acetals from aldehydes or ketones

erythrocytolysin, erythrolysin, haemolysin, hemolysin

any substance that can cause lysis (destruction) of erythrocytes (red blood cells) and the release of their hemoglobin

humic substance

an organic residue of decaying organic matter

hydride

any binary compound formed by the union of hydrogen and other elements

hydrobromic acid

an aqueous solution of hydrogen bromide that is a strong liquid acid

hydrocarbon

an organic compound containing only carbon and hydrogen

chlorohydric acid, hydrochloric acid

an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride; a strongly corrosive acid

hydrogen chloride

a colorless corrosive gas (HCl)

hydrofluoric acid

a weak poisonous liquid acid; formed by solution of hydrogen fluoride in water

hydroiodic acid

an acid formed by aqueous solution of hydrogen iodide

hydrogen sulfide

a sulfide having the unpleasant smell of rotten eggs

hypo, sodium thiosulfate, sodium thiosulphate

a compound used as a fixing agent in photographic developing

hypochlorous acid

a weak unstable acid known only in solution and in its salts; used as a bleaching agent and as an oxidizing agent

glyoxaline, imidazole, iminazole

an organic base C3H4N2; a histamine inhibitor

insect repellant, insect repellent, insectifuge

a chemical substance that repels insects

iodic acid

a soluble crystalline acid; used as a reagent and disinfectant

iron disulfide

a compound containing two atoms of sulfur combined with iron

isocyanate

a salt or ester of isocyanic acid

isocyanic acid

an acid known only in the form of its esters

itaconic acid

a crystalline carboxylic acid; occurs in some fermentations of sugars

joss stick

a slender stick of incense burned before a joss by the Chinese

ketone

any of a class of organic compounds having a carbonyl group linked to a carbon atom in each of two hydrocarbon radicals

lignin

a complex polymer; the chief constituent of wood other than carbohydrates; binds to cellulose fibers to harden and strengthen cell walls of plants

calcium hydrate, calcium hydroxide, caustic lime, hydrated lime, lime, lime hydrate, slaked lime

a caustic substance produced by heating limestone

calcium chloride

a deliquescent salt; used in de-icing and as a drying agent

calcium sulfate, calcium sulphate

a white salt (CaSO4)

lye

a strong solution of sodium or potassium hydroxide

macromolecule, supermolecule

any very large complex molecule; found only in plants and animals

magnesium hydroxide

a white crystalline powder used chiefly in medicines

magnesium nitride

a nitride containing nitrogen and magnesium

maleic acid

a colorless crystalline compound found in unripe fruit (such as apples or tomatoes or cherries) and used mainly to make polyester resins

manganate

a salt of manganic acid containing manganese as its anion

cyanuramide, melamine

a white crystalline organic base; used mainly in making melamine resins

calomel, mercurous chloride

a tasteless colorless powder used medicinally as a cathartic

monohydrate

a hydrate that contains one molecule of water per molecule of the compound

monoxide

an oxide containing just one atom of oxygen in the molecule

chrome alum

a violet-colored salt used in hide tanning and as a mordant in dyeing

tartrate

a salt or ester of tartaric acid

nebula

a medicinal liquid preparation intended for use in an atomizer

nitrobenzene

a poisonous oily water-soluble liquid used as a solvent and in the manufacture of aniline

polyamide, polymeric amide

a polymer containing repeated amide groups

oxalacetate, oxaloacetate

a salt or ester of oxalacetic acid

oxalacetic acid, oxaloacetic acid

an acid formed by oxidation of maleic acid (as in metabolism of fats and carbohydrates)

oxalate

a salt or ester of oxalic acid

ethanedioic acid, oxalic acid

a toxic colorless crystalline organic acid found in oxalis and other plants; used as a bleach and rust remover and in chemical analysis

oxime

any compound containing the group -C=NOH

oxyacid, oxygen acid

any acid that contains oxygen

pantothen, pantothenic acid

a vitamin of the vitamin B complex that performs an important role in the oxidation of fats and carbohydrates and certain amino acids; occurs in many foods

PABA, para aminobenzoic acid

a metabolic acid found in yeast and liver cells; used to make dyes and drugs and sun blockers

pectic acid

a complex acid that occurs in ripe fruit and some vegetables

permanganate

a dark purple salt of permanganic acid; in water solution it is used as a disinfectant and antiseptic

permanganic acid

an unstable purple acid (HMnO4) known only in solution or of permanganate salts

peroxide

an inorganic compound containing the divalent ion -O-O-

petrochemical

any compound obtained from petroleum or natural gas

inorganic phosphate, orthophosphate, phosphate

a salt of phosphoric acid

creatine phosphate, creatine phosphoric acid, phosphocreatine

an organic compound of creatine and phosphoric acid; found in the muscles of vertebrates where its hydrolysis releases energy for muscular contraction

phthalic acid

a colorless acid used to make dyes and perfumes

picric acid

a yellow toxic highly explosive strong acid; used in high explosives and as a dye and in chemical reactions

phenol

any of a class of weakly acidic organic compounds; molecule contains one or more hydroxyl groups

polyphosphate

a salt or ester of polyphosphoric acid

polish

a preparation used in polishing

caustic potash, potash, potassium hydroxide

a potassium compound often used in agriculture and industry

acrylate, propenoate

a salt or ester of propenoic acid

pyrimidine

a heterocyclic organic compound with a penetrating odor

pyrimidine

any of several basic compounds derived from pyrimidine

pyruvic acid

a colorless acid formed as an important intermediate in metabolism or fermentation

quassia

a bitter compound used as an insecticide and tonic and vermifuge; extracted from the wood and bark of trees of the genera Quassia and Picrasma

minium, red lead

a reddish oxide of lead (Pb3O4) used as a pigment in paints and in glass and ceramics

rubber, synthetic rubber

any of various synthetic elastic materials whose properties resemble natural rubber

salicylate

a salt of salicylic acid (included in several commonly used drugs)

double salt

a solution of two simple salts that forms a single substance on crystallization

bile salt

a salt of bile acid and a base; functions as an emulsifier of lipids and fatty acids

Glauber’s salt, Glauber’s salts

(Na2SO4.10H2O) a colorless salt used as a cathartic

cream of tartar, potassium bitartrate, potassium hydrogen tartrate, tartar

a salt used especially in baking powder

sodium chlorate

a colorless salt (NaClO3) used as a weed killer and an antiseptic

dichromic acid

the hypothetical acid (H2Cr2O7) from which dichromates are derived; known only in solution and in the form of dichromate salts

bichromate, dichromate

a salt of the hypothetical dichromic acid

sodium bichromate, sodium dichromate

a red-orange salt used as a mordant

ammonium nitrate

used as an explosive and fertilizer and rocket propellant

silver nitrate

a nitrate used in making photographic emulsions; also used in medicine as a cautery and as a topical antibacterial agent

caustic soda, sodium hydroxide

a strongly alkaline caustic used in manufacturing soap and paper and aluminum and various sodium compounds

microcosmic salt

a white salt present in urine and used to test for metal oxides

trichloride

any compound containing three chlorine atoms in each molecule

bichloride, dichloride

a compound containing two chlorine atoms per molecule

perchloride

a chloride containing an unusually high proportion of chlorine

aluminium chloride, aluminum chloride

a chloride used as a wood preservative or catalyst

dichloromethane, methylene chloride

a nonflammable liquid used as a solvent and paint remover and refrigerant

obidoxime chloride

a chloride used as an antidote for nerve gases such as sarin or VX

silver chloride

a chloride used chiefly in the manufacture of photographic emulsions

stannic chloride

a colorless caustic liquid made by treating tin with chlorine

starch

a commercial preparation of starch that is used to stiffen textile fabrics in laundering

hemin, protohemin

a reddish-brown chloride of heme; produced from hemoglobin in laboratory tests for the presence of blood

silicic acid

a jellylike substance (hydrated silica)

silicate

a salt or ester derived from silicic acid

silicone, silicone polymer

any of a large class of siloxanes that are unusually stable over a wide range of temperatures; used in lubricants and adhesives and coatings and synthetic rubber and electrical insulation

silica, silicon dioxide, silicon oxide

a white or colorless vitreous insoluble solid (SiO2); various forms occur widely in the earth’s crust as quartz or cristobalite or tridymite or lechatelierite

smelling salts

a pungent preparation of ammonium carbonate and perfume; sniffed as a stimulant to relieve faintness

sal soda, soda, soda ash, sodium carbonate, washing soda

a sodium salt of carbonic acid; used in making soap powders and glass and paper

sodium carboxymethyl cellulose

a gummy substance that is a sodium salt of carboxymethyl cellulose; used as a thickening or emulsifying agent

sodium fluoride

a colorless crystalline salt of sodium (NaF) used in fluoridation of water and to prevent tooth decay

spice

aromatic substances of vegetable origin used as a preservative

steroid

any of several fat-soluble organic compounds having as a basis 17 carbon atoms in four rings; many have important physiological effects

nonsteroid, nonsteroidal

an organic compound that does no contain a steroid

sulfanilic acid, sulphanilic acid

a crystalline acid made from aniline and used as a dye

sulfate, sulphate

a salt or ester of sulphuric acid

sulfur oxide, sulphur oxide

any of several oxides of sulphur

superoxide

a metallic oxide containing the univalent anion O2-

tetroxide

an oxide containing four atoms of oxygen in the molecule

thiouracil

depresses the function of the thyroid gland

thiocyanate

a salt of thiocyanic acid; formed when alkaline cyanides are fused with sulfur

thiocyanic acid

an unstable acid that can be obtained by distilling a thiocyanate salt

toluic acid

an isomeric acid derived from toluene

trimer

a polymer (or a molecule of a polymer) consisting of three identical monomers

trioxide

an oxide containing three atoms of oxygen in the molecule

triphosphoric acid

an acid that is a partial anhydride of three molecules of phosphoric acid; known chiefly in the form of its salts and esters

tungstate

a salt of tungstic acid

coenzyme Q, ubiquinone

any of several quinones found in living cells and that function as coenzymes that transfer electrons from one molecule to another in cell respiration

undecylenic acid

an acid that is a component of perspiration

uranyl nitrate

a yellow salt obtained by the reaction of uranium salts with nitric acid

carbamide, urea

the chief solid component of mammalian urine; synthesized from ammonia and carbon dioxide and used as fertilizer and in animal feed and in plastics

uric acid

a white tasteless odorless crystalline product of protein metabolism; found in the blood and urine

urate

a salt of uric acid

vanadate

a salt or ester of vanadic acid; an anion containing pentavalent vanadium

oil of vitriol, sulfuric acid, sulphuric acid, vitriol

(H2SO4) a highly corrosive acid made from sulfur dioxide; widely used in the chemical industry

cadmium sulfide

a yellow sulfide used chiefly as a pigment

flowers of zinc, philosopher’s wool, philosophers’ wool, zinc oxide

oxide of zinc; a white powder used as a pigment or in cosmetics or glass or inks and in zinc ointment

zinc sulfide, zinc sulphide

a yellow to white crystalline fluorescent compound that occurs naturally as sphalerite or wurtzite and is used as a luminous pigment

zirconia, zirconium dioxide, zirconium oxide

a white crystalline oxide; used in refractories and in insulation and abrasives and enamels and glazes

imide

any of a class of organic compounds that contain the divalent radical -CONHCO-

xanthate

a salt or ester of xanthic acid

xanthic acid

any of a class of unstable organic acids containing sulphur

xanthine

crystalline oxidation product of the metabolism of nucleoproteins; precursor of uric acid; found in many organs and in urine

Today we tell you about what sharaga. After all, the last word is still in Vogue, and not only the students who are so disrespectful toward the place of their temporary stay.

Origins

what is sharaga

The phrase “cowboys» (factory) hard to wait for something good. Speech is highly negative. Sources say that the idiom originates in the dialect . “Sharash” – that is, the crooks, scum, rabble. Hence the meaning of such verbs as «dumbfound» (Stunning), «recoil» (Punch).

The Reader puzzled asked: “What is a compound? And as the previous information applies to the subject?” All will be revealed in his time. But let’s say that «cowboy office» – this is sharaga, only in its spoken form.

Significance

Now it is easy to establish the truth, even local, but that does not diminish her in any way. So, cowboys or sharaga – it’s a criminal organization that mercilessly deceiving the people, a hotbed of thieves and crooks. In addition to the definitions given in the article, there is this phenomenon another synonym or name – “sharash-Assembly”. All three options are equivalent, but, as a rule, use the shortest, that is, the object of our study.

Why vocational schools – sharaga?

sharaga College

It is not that educational institutions of the Russian Federation fleecing the people and provide a shoddy product, that is released a bad experts. No criminal problems in this area is not seen, speaking directly about the transfer of knowledge and skills.

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But people have certain ideas of what is acceptable, which quite often are tested, and sometimes fail. So, when sharaga and the College is merged in the consciousness of the student – it is a sure sign that he was disappointed. Hard to say what exactly: whether the level of teaching, whether a team, group. But the language clearly indicates that the person is annoyed.

We Must remember that schools – institutions that teach specific skills to somehow to live.

By the Way, in modern Russia, where a clear surplus of people with higher education who are creative, communicative, creative, but no practical skills do not have, particularly appreciated by people with a “working specialties” – school graduates. That’s the paradox.

meaning of the word sharaga

Dismissive and contemptuous name of secondary special educational institutions as “office” sets up the students in a frivolous way, and they relate to the development of new knowledge carelessly. Of course, in the General trend there are always exceptions, but in General, the study is not perceived as something important. The language controls a person’s mind. He calls the thing or process, the name sets the attitude, and then talk myself out of something becomes difficult.

Of Course, the reader can tell that people are relating seriously to his development, not go to College. This is the truth, but it is not the whole truth. Teachers at all levels know how ideological actors, and friends that frankly Drudge and suffer. And not significantly, when the torture will end.

It is Clear now that such a compound? I hope so.

Word and media

what does it mean sharaga

Most people don’t think about the fact that the dictionary they use, their well characterized. Man is so constituted that he blames everything on external. If you give him a good education, in his opinion, to blame, of course, teachers and organization, and not himself. And so almost everything. But when a guy or a girl understand clearly the meaning of “compound” and use it consciously, they offend not only the place where they study, but also themselves. But the second time no one almost never tracks.

Generally, when people insult, he first shows the world their complexes, fears, doubts. After all, if someone thinks a school (no matter what stage of education belongs to it) not good enough for yourself, then the question immediately arises: if man is so good, so smart, why he was in a sharaga, and did not, say, a prestigious University? These questions remain generally unanswered.

After we learned what sharaga, the question arises whether it is possible to use that word in the same sentence with the educational institution? The answer is Yes, but only if the University or College noticed in dark deeds. For example, when the students take the money, and two years later close down “University” and leave the unfortunates to their fate. These are the institutions – this is a real office where people work dishonest, for when the merchant undertakes socially-oriented business, it must be of exceptional moral qualities as the entrepreneur is responsible for each student. Unfortunately, this is rare. And the deceived people in Russia according to this scheme indefinitely.

But let’s not about sad. The main thing to understand what it means sharaga. It seems that we did, even managed to talk about a sick question – Russian education.

Princeton’s WordNetRate this definition:3.9 / 7 votes

  1. compoundnoun

    a whole formed by a union of two or more elements or parts

  2. compound, chemical compoundnoun

    (chemistry) a substance formed by chemical union of two or more elements or ingredients in definite proportion by weight

  3. compoundadjective

    an enclosure of residences and other building (especially in the Orient)

  4. compoundadjective

    composed of more than one part

    «compound leaves are composed of several lobes; «compound flower heads»

  5. compoundadjective

    consisting of two or more substances or ingredients or elements or parts

    «soap is a compound substance»; «housetop is a compound word»; «a blackberry is a compound fruit»

  6. colonial, compoundverb

    composed of many distinct individuals united to form a whole or colony

    «coral is a colonial organism»

  7. intensify, compound, heighten, deepenverb

    make more intense, stronger, or more marked

    «The efforts were intensified», «Her rudeness intensified his dislike for her»; «Pot smokers claim it heightens their awareness»; «This event only deepened my convictions»

  8. compound, combineverb

    put or add together

    «combine resources»

  9. compoundverb

    calculate principal and interest

  10. compoundverb

    create by mixing or combining

  11. compound, combineverb

    combine so as to form a whole; mix

    «compound the ingredients»

Samuel Johnson’s DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

  1. Compoundadjective

    Etymology: from the verb.

    1. Formed out of many ingredients; not single.

    The ancient electrum had in it a fifth of silver to the gold, and made a compound metal, as fit for most uses as gold.
    Francis Bacon.

    Compound substances are made up of two or more simple substances.
    Isaac Watts, Logick.

    2. [In grammar.] Composed of two or more words; not simple.

    Those who are his greatest admirers, seem pleased with them as beauties; I speak of his compound epithets.
    Alexander Pope.

    3. Compound or aggregated Flower, in botany,is such as consists of many little flowers, concurring together to make up one whole one; each of which has its style and stamina, and adhering seed, and are all contained within one and the same calyx: such are the sunflower and dandelion. John Harris

  2. Compoundnoun

    The mass formed by the union of many ingredients.

    Etymology: from the verb.

    For present use or profit, this is the rule: consider the price of the two simple bodies; consider again the dignity of the one above the other in use; then see if you can make a compound, that will save more in price than it will lose in dignity of the use.
    Francis Bacon, Physical Rem.

    As man is a compound and mixture of flesh, as well as spirit.
    Robert South, Sermons.

    Love, why do we one passion call?
    When ’tis a compound of them all;
    Where hot and cold, where sharp and sweet,
    In all their equipages meet.
    Jonathan Swift.

  3. To COMPOUNDverb

    Etymology: compono, Latin.

    1. To mingle many ingredients together in one mass.2. To form by uniting various parts.

    Whosoever compoundeth any like it, shall be cut off.
    Ex. xxx.

    It will be difficult to evince, that nature does not make decompounded bodies; I mean, mingle together such bodies as are already compounded of elementary, or rather of simple ones.
    Robert Boyle, Sceptical Chymist.

    The ideas, being each but one single perception, are easier got than the more complex ones; and therefore are not liable to the uncertainty, which attends those compounded ones.
    John Locke.

    3. To mingle in different positions; to combine.

    We cannot have a single image that did not enter through the sight; but we have the power of altering and compounding those images into all the varieties of picture.
    Joseph Addison, Spectator.

    4. [In grammar.] To form one word from two or more words.

    Where it and Tigris embrace each other under the city of Apamia, there do they agree of a joint and compounded name, and are called Piso-Tigris.
    Walter Raleigh, History of the World.

    5. To compose by being united.

    Who’d be so mock’d with glory, as to live
    But in a dream of friendship?
    To have his pomp, and all what state compounds,
    But only painted, like his varnish’d friends!
    William Shakespeare, Timon.

    6. To adjust a difference by some recession from the rigour of claims.

    I would to God all strifes were well compounded.
    William Shakespeare.

    If there be any discord or suits between any of the family, they are compounded and appeased.
    Francis Bacon, New Atlantis.

    7. To discharge a debt by paying only part.

    Shall I, ye gods, he cries, my debts compound?
    John Gay.

  4. To Compoundverb

    1. To come to terms of agreement by abating something of the first demand. It has for before the thing accepted or remitted.

    They were, at last, glad to compound for his bare commitment to the Tower.
    Edward Hyde.

    Pray but for half the virtues of this wife;
    Compound for all the rest, with longer life.
    Dryden.

    2. To bargain in the lump.

    Here’s a fellow will help you to-morrow: compound with him by the year.
    William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.

    3. To come to terms.

    Cornwal compounded to furnish ten oxen after Michaelmas for thirty pounds.
    Richard Carew, Survey of Cornwal.

    Once more I come to know of thee, king Harry,
    If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound,
    Before thy most assured overthrow?
    William Shakespeare, Henry V.

    Made all the royal stars recant,
    Compound and take the covenant.
    Hudibras, p. ii. cant. 3.

    But useless all, when he, despairing, found
    Catullus then did with the winds compound.
    John Dryden, Juvenal.

    Paracelsus and his admirers have compounded with the Galenists, and brought a mixed use of chymical medicines into the present practice.
    William Temple.

    4. To determine. This is not in use.

    We here deliver,
    Subscribed by the consuls and patricians,
    Together with the seal of the senate, what
    We have compounded on.
    William Shakespeare, Coriolanus.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:3.2 / 6 votes

  1. Compoundnoun

    in the East Indies, an inclosure containing a house, outbuildings, etc

  2. Compoundverb

    to form or make by combining different elements, ingredients, or parts; as, to compound a medicine

  3. Compoundverb

    to put together, as elements, ingredients, or parts, in order to form a whole; to combine, mix, or unite

  4. Compoundverb

    to modify or change by combination with some other thing or part; to mingle with something else

  5. Compoundverb

    to compose; to constitute

  6. Compoundverb

    to settle amicably; to adjust by agreement; to compromise; to discharge from obligation upon terms different from those which were stipulated; as, to compound a debt

  7. Compoundverb

    to effect a composition; to come to terms of agreement; to agree; to settle by a compromise; — usually followed by with before the person participating, and for before the thing compounded or the consideration

  8. Compoundverb

    composed of two or more elements, ingredients, parts; produced by the union of several ingredients, parts, or things; composite; as, a compound word

  9. Compoundnoun

    that which is compounded or formed by the union or mixture of elements ingredients, or parts; a combination of simples; a compound word; the result of composition

  10. Compoundnoun

    a union of two or more ingredients in definite proportions by weight, so combined as to form a distinct substance; as, water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen

  11. Etymology: [OE. compouned, p. p. of compounen. See Compound, v. t.]

FreebaseRate this definition:1.0 / 1 vote

  1. Compound

    In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. That is, in familiar terms, compounding occurs when two or more words are joined together to make them one word. The meaning of the compound may be very different from the meanings of its components in isolation.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:1.0 / 1 vote

  1. Compound

    kom-pownd′, v.t. to mix or combine: to settle or adjust by agreement.—v.i. to agree, or come to terms: to bargain in the lump.—adj. Com′pound, mixed or composed of a number of parts: not simple, dealing with numbers of various denominations of quantity, &c., as in ‘compound addition,’ &c.; or with processes more complex than the simple process, as in ‘compound proportion,’ &c.—n. a mass made up of a number of parts: the usual name in India for the enclosure in which a house stands, with its outhouses, yard, and garden: a compounded drug.—n. Compound′er.—Compound engine, a condensing engine in which the mechanical action of the steam is begun in one cylinder, and ended in a larger cylinder; Compound fracture, a broken bone, communicating with a co-existing skin wound; Compound householder, one who pays his rates in his rent, the landlord being immediately chargeable with them; Compound interest, the charge made where—the interest not being paid when due—it is added to the principal, forming the amount upon which the subsequent year’s interest is computed; Compound quantity (alg.), a quantity consisting of more than one term, as a + b; Compound time (mus.), time in which each bar is made up of two or more simple bars. [O. Fr., from L. componĕrecom, together, ponĕre, to place.]

Dictionary of Nautical TermsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

  1. compound

    A term used in India for a lawn garden, or inclosed ground
    round a house.

EntomologyRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

  1. Compound

    made up of many similar or dissimilar parts.

Matched Categories

    • Account
    • Add
    • Assemble
    • Mix
    • Whole

British National Corpus

  1. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word ‘compound’ in Nouns Frequency: #1829

How to pronounce compound?

How to say compound in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of compound in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of compound in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of compound in a Sentence

  1. Molecular Genetics Lorna Harries:

    We really are n’t trying to tell people that chocolate or red wine makes you look younger or live longer, this is how a lot of the media have painted it ! Though resveratrol’s regenerative effects have been documented before, Molecular Genetics Lorna Harries and Molecular Genetics Lorna Harries team found that creating a compound that could mimic resveratol’s regenerative mechanism was more effective than resveratrol itself.

  2. Vice President Biden on Tuesday:

    Vice President Biden on Tuesday said. Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner and former secretary of state, has claimed she recommended to President Obama that President Obama go ahead, while President Obama advisers were split. The VP comments come as Vice President Biden on Tuesday weighs whether to enter the 2016 Democratic presidential race. It’s unclear whether Vice President Biden on Tuesday intentionally challenged Clinton’s account, or simply offered an inadvertently flawed retelling of events. Biden on Tuesday also contradicted Vice President Biden on Tuesday past recollections of the deliberations, telling the forum that while Vice President Biden on Tuesday privately supported the raid, Vice President Biden on Tuesday did n’t want to say so in front of everyone else as it risked undercutting his relationship with President Obama if the president decided against the raid. Vice President Biden on Tuesday said Vice President Biden on Tuesday only advised President Obama to go ahead when the two were alone — after advising in a Cabinet meeting that there should be another pass with a surveillance drone to make sure bin Laden really was at the compound. As we walked out of the room and walked up the stairs, I told Vice President Biden on Tuesday my opinion that I thought Vice President Biden on Tuesday should go but to follow Vice President Biden on Tuesday own instincts, i never, on a difficult issue, never say what I think finally until I go up in the Oval with Vice President Biden on Tuesday alone.

  3. C.S. Lewis:

    Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.

  4. Jeremy Batstone-Carr:

    The oil price fall initially reflected concerns about oversupply, but now we’re seeing concerns over demand compound matters, so other commodity-related stocks are being hit.

  5. Jane Gilbert:

    Heat was not a big focus, i ended up putting it into the city of Miami’s climate-ready strategy, because when I did neighborhood-level outreach on our planning process and was really drawing out what people’s biggest concerns were related to climate change, extreme heat and the compound risks of extreme heat with hurricane came up a lot.

Popularity rank by frequency of use


Translations for compound

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

  • مركبArabic
  • съедине́ние, споразумявам се, оградено мя́сто, съчета́ние, събирам се, добавям, съединявам, сло́жен, съставен, смесвамBulgarian
  • sloučenina, složenýCzech
  • sammensatteDanish
  • Mischung, chemische Verbindung, VerbindungGerman
  • περίβολος, μίγμα, παρασκευάζω, κράμα, συμμιγής, σύνθετος, ενώνομαι, συνθέτω, συγκρότημα, ένωση, μιγνύω, συμβιβάζω, αναμιγνύω, προσθέτω, συμφωνώ, χημική ένωσηGreek
  • complejo, compuesto, compuesto químicoSpanish
  • kompleksEstonian
  • مرکب, آمیختن, همساخته, آمیخته, ترکیبPersian
  • laitos, yhdistelmä, yhdistyä, lisätä, seos, liittää, yhdiste, yhdistää, kemiallinen yhdiste, liittyäFinnish
  • composé, complexe, composer, composé chimiqueFrench
  • covroojidManx
  • לשלב, תרכובתHebrew
  • यौगिकHindi
  • vegyülék, elegy, fogolytábor, keverékHungarian
  • senyawaIndonesian
  • composto, mettersi d’accordo, comporre, composto chimico, mettere insieme, campo di prigionìa, costituito, unirsi, amalgama, miscuglio, accordarsi, aggiungereItalian
  • מתחםHebrew
  • 化合物Japanese
  • 화합물Korean
  • compositumLatin
  • pūhuiMāori
  • verbinding, samengesteld, complex, samenstellingDutch
  • sammensatteNorwegian
  • złożonyPolish
  • compor, composto, complexo, composto químico, cercadoPortuguese
  • compus chimic, compusRomanian
  • собира́ться, сме́шивать, компа́унд, сочета́ние, собра́ться, [[огороженный, соедине́ние, добавля́ть, ко́мплекс, сло́жный, составно́й, соединя́ть, объединя́ть, соединениеRussian
  • logor, kémījskī spȏj, kompleks, taborSerbo-Croatian
  • sestaviti, sestavljen, spojinaSlovene
  • sätta, kompromissa, inhägnad, sammansättning, förvärra, blanda, försvåra, förlikning, läger, blandning, göra upp, sammansatt, avtal, gård, förening, förlika, bilägga, överenskommelse, sammansatt ämne, fSwedish
  • கலவைTamil
  • สารประกอบThai
  • karışım, bileşim, bileşikTurkish
  • compoundUkrainian
  • کمپاؤنڈUrdu
  • hợp chất, phức tạpVietnamese
  • קאַמפּאַונדYiddish
  • 複合Chinese

Get even more translations for compound »

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This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.

[ adjective kom-pound, kom-pound; noun kom-pound; verb kuhm-pound, kom-pound ]

/ adjective ˈkɒm paʊnd, kɒmˈpaʊnd; noun ˈkɒm paʊnd; verb kəmˈpaʊnd, ˈkɒm paʊnd /

This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.


adjective

composed of two or more parts, elements, or ingredients: Soap is a compound substance.

having or involving two or more actions or functions: The mouth is a compound organ.

Grammar. of or relating to a compound sentence or compound-complex sentence.

(of a word)

  1. consisting of two or more parts that are also bases, forming a compound noun,compound adjective,compound verb, or compound preposition, as housetop, many-sided, playact, or upon.
  2. consisting of any two or more parts that have identifiable meaning, as a base and a noninflectional affix (return, follower), a base and a combining form (biochemistry), two combining forms (ethnography), or a combining form and a noninflectional affix (aviary, dentoid).

(of a verb tense) consisting of an auxiliary verb and a main verb, as are swimming, have spoken, or will write (opposed to simple).

Botany. composed of several similar parts that combine to form a whole: a compound fruit.

Zoology. composed of a number of distinct individuals that are connected to form a united whole or colony, as coral.

Music. of or relating to compound time.

Machinery. noting an engine or turbine expanding the same steam or the like in two successive chambers to do work at two ranges of pressure.

noun

something formed by compounding or combining parts, elements, etc.

Chemistry. a pure substance composed of two or more elements whose composition is constant.

a compound word, especially one composed of two or more words that are otherwise unaltered, as moonflower or rainstorm.

verb (used with object)

to put together into a whole; combine: to compound drugs to form a new medicine.

to make or form by combining parts, elements, etc.; construct: to compound a new plan from parts of several former plans.

to make up or constitute: all the organs and members that compound a human body.

to settle or adjust by agreement, especially for a reduced amount, as a debt.

Law. to agree, for a consideration, not to prosecute or punish a wrongdoer for: to compound a crime or felony.

to pay (interest) on the accrued interest as well as the principal: My bank compounds interest quarterly.

to increase or add to: The misery of his loneliness was now compounded by his poverty.

Electricity. to connect a portion of the field turns of (a direct-current dynamo) in series with the armature circuit.

verb (used without object)

to make a bargain; come to terms; compromise.

to settle a debt, claim, etc., by compromise.

VIDEO FOR COMPOUND

How To Know If A Term Is One Word Or Two Words

English loves to take existing words and smash them together so they act as one unit. This is called compounding. But how do you know if a word is one word or two?

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Origin of compound

1

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English verb componen, compounen, compownen, from Old French compon- (stem of compondre ), from Latin compōnere, equivalent to com- com- + pōnere “to put”; Middle English adjective compouned, past participle of componen, as above

historical usage of compound

The English verb compound, first appearing in Middle English in the late 14th century as compounen, compownen, comes from Old French compondre, compundre “to direct, arrange,” from Latin compōnere “to put together, add together, match, match up.” The adjective compound, originally a past participle of the verb, is also recorded at the end of the 14th century. The noun, a development of the adjectival sense, is recorded considerably later, in the first half of the 16th century.
The final, unetymological -d in compound arose during the 16th century; it is of the same origin as the -d in the English word sound (meaning “noise”), which developed from the earlier English soun (from Old French son, from Latin sonus ), and the archaic verb round “to whisper,” a derivative of rune “a secret.”

OTHER WORDS FROM compound

com·pound·a·ble, adjectivecom·pound·ed·ness, nouncom·pound·er, nounnon·com·pound·a·ble, adjective

un·com·pound·a·ble, adjectiveun·com·pound·ed, adjectiveun·com·pound·ing, adjective

Words nearby compound

composure, compotation, compotator, compote, compotier, compound, compound annual return, compound-complex sentence, compound engine, compound eye, compound fault

Other definitions for compound (2 of 2)

compound2

[ kom-pound ]

/ ˈkɒm paʊnd /


noun

an enclosure, especially one for prisoners.

an enclosed or protected area where a group of people live or work, such as a military base.

any separate cluster of homes, often owned by members of the same family.

Origin of compound

2

First recorded in 1670–80; alteration, by association with compound1, of Malay kampung “village, collection, gathering”; cf. kampong

historical usage of compound

The noun compound “a large, enclosed area” most likely comes from Malay kampong, kampung “fenced-in space, enclosure, village, a part of town inhabited by a particular nationality.” Compound originally referred to the European (originally Portuguese, Dutch, English) complexes of residences, factories, and warehouses in the East Indies, India, and China. Kampong, kampung was associated in English with the noun compound “something consisting of several parts” by 1679, when the sense “a large, enclosed area” is first recorded. The term was also used in the 19th century to describe a similar confined living area for African laborers, especially miners. By the mid-20th century, the sense of “large, walled-in space in a prison or other detention camp” first appears.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to compound

add to, aggravate, exacerbate, heighten, intensify, magnify, multiply, worsen, admixture, aggregate, alloy, amalgam, amalgamation, blend, combo, commixture, composite, composition, compost, conglomerate

How to use compound in a sentence

  • With Covid-19 compounding the health threat of wildfire smoke, this year’s fires are putting an unprecedented strain on communities.

  • This could release compounds that might move through the air — right to someone’s nose.

  • A leucine-rich diet may increase your risk of obesity or type 2 diabetes, in theory because the compound sends your body a “time to grow!”

  • At Towson University in Maryland, chemist Shannon Stitzel is tracing cocoa to its roots using organic compounds, which are mostly produced by the cocoa plant itself.

  • Local media reports that Beijing initiated the idea of universal testing, rather than Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, have compounded those concerns.

  • He scrambled outside to find a 25-foot-wide crater just beyond the mud wall surrounding his family compound.

  • Less than 30 minutes after the firefight started, commandos entered the compound and found the mortally wounded hostages.

  • They say that the Israelis framed him in order to light the powder keg of religious war over the al-Aqsa compound.

  • The Holy City, specifically the al-Aqsa compound, has been the flashpoint for the latest round of conflict.

  • Now the lead breacher explained how he cut through the steel doors bin Laden used to seal himself into the compound at night.

  • He, with others, thinking the miss-sahib had gone to church, was smoking the hookah of gossip in a neighboring compound.

  • They held the compound against repeated assaults, and lost several men in hand-to-hand fighting.

  • Passing a bungalow that was blazing furiously, he saw in the compound the corpses of two women.

  • The body of a young woman was found in the compound outside my bungalow, done to death in precisely the same way.

  • The compound was washed on the fifth of May, and a grain of gold weighing one and one-half reals was obtained.

British Dictionary definitions for compound (1 of 2)


noun (ˈkɒmpaʊnd)

a substance that contains atoms of two or more chemical elements held together by chemical bonds

any combination of two or more parts, aspects, etc

a word formed from two existing words or combining forms

verb (kəmˈpaʊnd) (mainly tr)

to mix or combine so as to create a compound or other product

to make by combining parts, elements, aspects, etcto compound a new plastic

to intensify by an added elementhis anxiety was compounded by her crying

finance to calculate or pay (interest) on both the principal and its accrued interest

(also intr) to come to an agreement in (a quarrel, dispute, etc)

(also intr) to settle (a debt, promise, etc) for less than what is owed; compromise

law to agree not to prosecute in return for a considerationto compound a crime

electrical engineering to place duplex windings on the field coil of (a motor or generator), one acting as a shunt, the other being in series with the main circuit, thus making the machine self-regulating

adjective (ˈkɒmpaʊnd)

composed of or created by the combination of two or more parts, elements, etc

(of a word) consisting of elements that are also words or productive combining forms

(of a sentence) formed by coordination of two or more sentences

(of a verb or the tense, mood, etc, of a verb) formed by using an auxiliary verb in addition to the main verbthe future in English is a compound tense involving the use of such auxiliary verbs as « shall » and « will »

music

  1. denoting a time in which the number of beats per bar is a multiple of threesix-four is an example of compound time
  2. (of an interval) greater than an octave

(of a steam engine, turbine, etc) having multiple stages in which the steam or working fluid from one stage is used in a subsequent stage

(of a piston engine) having a turbocharger powered by a turbine in the exhaust stream

Derived forms of compound

compoundable, adjectivecompounder, noun

Word Origin for compound

C14: from earlier compounen, from Old French compondre to collect, set in order, from Latin compōnere

British Dictionary definitions for compound (2 of 2)


noun

(esp formerly in South Africa) an enclosure, esp on the mines, containing the living quarters for Black workers

any similar enclosure, such as a camp for prisoners of war

(formerly in India, China, etc) the enclosure in which a European’s house or factory stood

Word Origin for compound

C17: by folk etymology (influenced by compound 1) from Malay kampong village

Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for compound


A substance consisting of atoms or ions of two or more different elements in definite proportions joined by chemical bonds into a molecule. The elements cannot be separated by physical means. Water, for example, is a compound having two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom per molecule.

Adjective

Composed of more than one part, as a compound eye or leaf.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cultural definitions for compound

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word) that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes (the other word-formation process being derivation). Compounding or Word-compounding refers to the faculty and device of language to form new words by combining or putting together old words. In other words, compound, compounding or word-compounding occurs when a person attaches two or more words together to make them one word. The meanings of the words interrelate in such a way that a new meaning comes out which is very different from the meanings of the words in isolation.

Contents

  • 1 Formation of compounds
  • 2 Subclasses
    • 2.1 Semantic classification
    • 2.2 Formal classification
      • 2.2.1 Noun–noun compounds
      • 2.2.2 Verb–noun compounds
      • 2.2.3 Verb–verb compounds
      • 2.2.4 Compound adpositions
  • 3 Examples from different languages
    • 3.1 Germanic languages
    • 3.2 Russian language
    • 3.3 Sanskrit language
  • 4 Recent trends
  • 5 Compounding by language
  • 6 See also
  • 7 Notes
  • 8 References
  • 9 External links

Formation of compounds

Compound formation rules vary widely across language types.

In a synthetic language, the relationship between the elements of a compound may be marked with a case or other morpheme. For example, the German compound Kapitänspatent consists of the lexemes Kapitän (sea captain) and Patent (license) joined by an -s- (originally a genitive case suffix); and similarly, the Latin lexeme paterfamilias contains the archaic genitive form familias of the lexeme familia (family). Conversely, in the Hebrew language compound, the word בֵּית סֵפֶר bet sefer (school), it is the head that is modified: the compound literally means «house-of book», with בַּיִת bayit (house) having entered the construct state to become בֵּית bet (house-of). This latter pattern is common throughout the Semitic languages, though in some it is combined with an explicit genitive case, so that both parts of the compound are marked.

Agglutinative languages tend to create very long words with derivational morphemes. Compounds may or may not require the use of derivational morphemes also. The longest compounds in the world may be found in the Finnish and Germanic languages. In German, extremely extendable compound words can be found in the language of chemical compounds, where in the cases of biochemistry and polymers, they can be practically unlimited in length. German examples include Farbfernsehgerät (color television set), Funkfernbedienung (radio remote control), and the jocular word Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmütze (Danube steamboat shipping company Captain’s hat).

In Finnish there is no theoretical limit to the length of compound words, but in practice words consisting of more than three components are rare. Even those can look mysterious to non-Finnish, take hätäuloskäytävä (emergency exit) as an example. Internet folklore sometimes suggests that lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas (Airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student) would be the longest word in Finnish, but evidence of it actually being used is scant and anecdotic at best.

Compounds can be rather long when translating technical documents from English to some other language, for example, Swedish. «Motion estimation search range settings» can be directly translated to rörelseuppskattningssökintervallsinställningar; the length of the words are theoretically unlimited, especially in chemical terminology.

Subclasses

Semantic classification

A common semantic classification of compounds yields four types:

  • endocentric
  • exocentric (also bahuvrihi)
  • copulative (also dvandva)
  • appositional

An endocentric compound consists of a head, i.e. the categorical part that contains the basic meaning of the whole compound, and modifiers, which restrict this meaning. For example, the English compound doghouse, where house is the head and dog is the modifier, is understood as a house intended for a dog. Endocentric compounds tend to be of the same part of speech (word class) as their head, as in the case of doghouse. (Such compounds were called tatpuruṣa in the Sanskrit tradition.)

Exocentric compounds (called a bahuvrihi compound in the Sanskrit tradition) are hyponyms of some unexpressed semantic head (e.g. a person, a plant, an animal…), and their meaning often cannot be transparently guessed from its constituent parts. For example, the English compound white-collar is neither a kind of collar nor a white thing. In an exocentric compound, the word class is determined lexically, disregarding the class of the constituents. For example, a must-have is not a verb but a noun. The meaning of this type of compound can be glossed as «(one) whose B is A», where B is the second element of the compound and A the first. A bahuvrihi compound is one whose nature is expressed by neither of the words: thus a white-collar person is neither white nor a collar (the collar’s colour is a metaphor for socioeconomic status). Other English examples include barefoot and Blackbeard.

Copulative compounds are compounds which have two semantic heads.

Appositional compounds refer to lexemes that have two (contrary) attributes which classify the compound.

Type Description Examples
endocentric A+B denotes a special kind of B darkroom, smalltalk
exocentric A+B denotes a special kind of an unexpressed semantic head skinhead, paleface (head: ‘person’)
copulative A+B denotes ‘the sum’ of what A and B denote bittersweet, sleepwalk
appositional A and B provide different descriptions for the same referent actor-director, maidservant

Formal classification

Noun–noun compounds

Most natural languages have compound nouns. The positioning of the words (i. e. the most common order of constituents in phrases where nouns are modified by adjectives, by possessors, by other nouns, etc.) varies according to the language. While Germanic languages, for example, are left-branching when it comes to noun phrases (the modifiers come before the head), the Romance languages are usually right-branching.

In French, compound nouns are often formed by left-hand heads with prepositional components inserted before the modifier, as in chemin-de-fer ‘railway’ lit. ‘road of iron’ and moulin à vent ‘windmill’, lit. ‘mill (that works)-by-means-of wind’.

In Turkish, one way of forming compound nouns is as follows: yeldeğirmeni ‘windmill’ (yel: wind, değirmen-i:mill-possessive); demiryolu ‘railway'(demir: iron, yol-u: road-possessive).

Verb–noun compounds

A type of compound that is fairly common in the Indo-European languages is formed of a verb and its object, and in effect transforms a simple verbal clause into a noun.

In Spanish, for example, such compounds consist of a verb conjugated for third person singular, present tense, indicative mood followed by a noun (usually plural): e.g., rascacielos (modelled on «skyscraper», lit. ‘scratches skies’), sacacorchos (‘corkscrew’, lit. ‘removes corks’), guardarropas (‘wardrobe’, lit. ‘stores clothing’). These compounds are formally invariable in the plural (but in many cases they have been reanalyzed as plural forms, and a singular form has appeared). French and Italian have these same compounds with the noun in the singular form: Italian grattacielo, ‘skyscraper’; French grille-pain, ‘toaster’ (lit. ‘toasts bread’) and torche-cul ‘ass-wipe’ (Rabelais: See his «propos torcheculatifs»).

This construction exists in English, generally with the verb and noun both in uninflected form: examples are spoilsport, killjoy, breakfast, cutthroat, pickpocket, dreadnought, and know-nothing.

Also common in English is another type of verb–noun (or noun–verb) compound, in which an argument of the verb is incorporated into the verb, which is then usually turned into a gerund, such as breastfeeding, finger-pointing, etc. The noun is often an instrumental complement. From these gerunds new verbs can be made: (a mother) breastfeeds (a child) and from them new compounds mother-child breastfeeding, etc.

In the Australian Aboriginal language Jingulu, (a Pama–Nyungan language), it is claimed that all verbs are V+N compounds, such as «do a sleep», or «run a dive», and the language has only three basic verbs: do, make, and run.[citation needed]

A special kind of composition is incorporation, of which noun incorporation into a verbal root (as in English backstabbing, breastfeed, etc.) is most prevalent (see below).

Verb–verb compounds

Main article: Compound verb

Verb–verb compounds are sequences of more than one verb acting together to determine clause structure. They have two types:

  • In a serial verb, two actions, often sequential, are expressed in a single clause. For example, Ewe trɔ dzo, lit. «turn leave», means «turn and leave», and Hindi जाकर देखो jā-kar dekh-o, lit. «go-CONJUNCTIVE PARTICIPLE see-IMPERATIVE«, means «go and see». In each case, the two verbs together determine the semantics and argument structure.

Serial verb expressions in English may include What did you go and do that for?, or He just upped and left; this is however not quite a true compound since they are connected by a conjunction and the second missing arguments may be taken as a case of ellipsis.

  • In a compound verb (or complex predicate), one of the verbs is the primary, and determines the primary semantics and also the argument structure. The secondary verb, often called a vector verb or explicator, provides fine distinctions, usually in temporality or aspect, and also carries the inflection (tense and/or agreement markers). The main verb usually appears in conjunctive participial (sometimes zero) form. For examples, Hindi निकल गया nikal gayā, lit. «exit went», means ‘went out’, while निकल पड़ा nikal paRā, lit. «exit fell», means ‘departed’ or ‘was blurted out’. In these examples निकल nikal is the primary verb, and गया gayā and पड़ा paRā are the vector verbs. Similarly, in both English start reading and Japanese 読み始める yomihajimeru «start-CONJUNCTIVE-read» «start reading,» the vector verbs start and 始める hajimeru «start» change according to tense, negation, and the like, while the main verbs reading and 読み yomi «reading» usually remain the same. An exception to this is the passive voice, in which both English and Japanese modify the main verb, i.e. start to be read and 読まれ始める yomarehajimeru lit. «read-PASSIVE-(CONJUNCTIVE)-start» start to be read. With a few exceptions all compound verbs alternate with their simple counterparts. That is, removing the vector does not affect grammaticality at all nor the meaning very much: निकला nikalā ‘(He) went out.’ In a few languages both components of the compound verb can be finite forms: Kurukh kecc-ar ker-ar lit. «died-3pl went-3pl» ‘(They) died.’
  • Compound verbs are very common in some languages, such as the northern Indo-Aryan languages Hindi-Urdu and Panjabi where as many as 20% of verb forms in running text are compound. They exist but are less common in Dravidian languages and in other Indo-Aryan languages like Marathi and Nepali, in Tibeto-Burman languages like Limbu and Newari, in potentially Altaic languages like Turkish, Korean, Japanese, Kazakh, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz, and in northeast Caucasian languages like Tsez and Avar.
  • Under the influence of a Quichua substrate speakers living in the Ecuadorian altiplano have innovated compound verbs in Spanish:
De rabia puso rompiendo la olla, ‘In anger (he/she) smashed the pot.’ (Lit. from anger put breaking the pot)
Botaremos matándote ‘We will kill you.’ (Cf. Quichua huañuchi-shpa shitashun, lit. kill-CP throw.1plFut, तेरे को मार डालेंगे )
  • Compound verb equivalents in English (examples from the internet):
What did you go and do that for?
If you are not giving away free information on your web site then a huge proportion of your business is just upping and leaving.
Big Pig, she took and built herself a house out of brush.
  • Caution: In descriptions of Persian and other Iranian languages the term ‘compound verb’ refers to noun-plus-verb compounds, not to the verb–verb compounds discussed here.

Compound adpositions

Compound prepositions formed by prepositions and nouns are common in English and the Romance languages (consider English on top of, Spanish encima de, etc.). Japanese shows the same pattern, except the word order is the opposite (with postpositions): no naka (lit. «of inside», i.e. «on the inside of»). Hindi has a small number of simple (i.e., one-word) postpositions and a large number of compound postpositions, mostly consisting of simple postposition ke followed by a specific postposition (e.g., ke pas, «near»; ke nīche, «underneath»).

Examples from different languages

Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe:

  • mashkikiwaaboo ‘tonic’: mashkiki ‘medicine’ + waaboo ‘liquid’
  • miskomin ‘raspberry’: misko ‘red’ + miin ‘berry’
  • dibik-giizis ‘moon’: dibik ‘night’ + giizis ‘sun’
  • gichi-mookomaan ‘white person/American’: gichi ‘big’ + mookomaan ‘knife’

Chinese (Cantonese Jyutping):

  • 學生 ‘student’: 學 hok6 learn + 生 sang1 grow
  • 太空 ‘universe’: 太 taai3 great + 空 hung1 emptiness
  • 摩天樓 ‘skyscraper’: 摩 mo1 touch + 天 tin1 sky + 樓 lau2 building (with more than 1 storey)
  • 打印機 ‘printer’: 打 daa2 strike + 印 yan3 stamp/print + 機 gei1 machine
  • 百科全書 ‘encyclopaedia’: 百 baak3 100 + 科 fo1 (branch of) study + 全 cyun4 entire/complete + 書 syu1 book

Dutch:

  • Arbeidsongeschiktheidsverzekering ‘disability insurance’: arbeid ‘labour’, + ongeschiktheid ‘inaptitude’, + verzekering ‘insurance’.
  • Rioolwaterzuiveringsinstallatie ‘wastewater treatment plant’: riool ‘sewer’, + water ‘water’, + zuivering ‘cleaning’, + installatie ‘installation’.
  • Verjaardagskalender ‘birthday calendar’: verjaardag ‘birthday’, + kalender ‘calendar’.
  • Klantenservicemedewerker ‘customer service representative’: klanten ‘customers’, + service ‘service’, + medewerker ‘worker’.
  • Universiteitsbibliotheek ‘university library’: universiteit ‘university’, + bibliotheek ‘library’.
  • Doorgroeimogelijkheden ‘possibilities for advancement’: door ‘through’, + groei ‘grow’, + mogelijkheden ‘possibilities’.

Finnish:

  • sanakirja ‘dictionary’: sana ‘word’, + kirja ‘book’
  • tietokone ‘computer’: tieto ‘knowledge, data’, + kone ‘machine’
  • keskiviikko ‘Wednesday’: keski ‘middle’, + viikko ‘week’
  • maailma ‘world’: maa ‘land’, + ilma ‘air’
  • rautatieasema ‘railway station’: rauta ‘iron’ + tie ‘road’ + asema ‘station’
  • suihkuturbiiniapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas: ‘Jet engine assistant mechanic NCO student’
  • atomiydinenergiareaktorigeneraattorilauhduttajaturbiiniratasvaihde: some part of a nuclear plant

The German language has many compounds

German:

  • Wolkenkratzer ‘skyscraper’: wolken ‘clouds’, + kratzer ‘scraper’
  • Eisenbahn ‘railway’: Eisen ‘iron’, + bahn ‘track’
  • Kraftfahrzeug ‘automobile’: Kraft ‘power’, + fahren/fahr ‘drive’, + zeug ‘machinery’
  • Stacheldraht ‘barbed wire’: stachel ‘barb/barbed’, + draht ‘wire’
  • Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz: literally, Cattle marking and beef labeling supervision duties delegation law

Icelandic:

  • járnbraut ‘railway’: járn ‘iron’, + braut ‘path’ or ‘way’
  • farartæki ‘vehicle’: farar ‘journey’, + tæki ‘apparatus’
  • alfræðiorðabók ‘encyclopædia’: al ‘everything’, + fræði ‘study’ or ‘knowledge’, + orða ‘words’, + bók ‘book’
  • símtal ‘telephone conversation’: sím ‘telephone’, + tal ‘dialogue’

Italian:

  • Millepiedi ‘centipede’: mille ‘thousand’, + piedi ‘feet’
  • Ferrovia ‘railway’: ferro ‘iron’, + via ‘way’
  • Tergicristallo ‘windscreen wiper’: tergere ‘to wash’, + cristallo ‘crystal, (pane of) glass’

Japanese:

  • 目覚まし(時計) mezamashi(dokei) ‘alarm clock’: 目 me ‘eye’ + 覚まし samashi (-zamashi) ‘awakening (someone)’ (+ 時計 tokei (-dokei) clock)
  • お好み焼き okonomiyaki: お好み okonomi ‘preference’ + 焼き yaki ‘cooking’
  • 日帰り higaeri ‘day trip’: 日 hi ‘day’ + 帰り kaeri (-gaeri) ‘returning (home)’
  • 国会議事堂 kokkaigijidō ‘national diet building’: 国会 kokkai ‘national diet’ + 議事 giji ‘proceedings’ + 堂 ‘hall’

Korean:

  • 안팎 anpak ‘inside and outside’: 안 an ‘inside’ + 밖 bak ‘outside’ (As two nouns compound, the consonant sound ‘b’ fortifies into ‘p,’ becoming 안팎 anpak rather than 안밖 anbak)

Spanish:

  • Ciencia-ficción ‘science fiction’: ciencia, ‘science’, + ficción, ‘fiction’ (This word is a calque from the English expression science fiction. In English, the head of a compound word is the last morpheme: science fiction. Conversely, the Spanish head is located at the front, so ciencia ficción sounds like a kind of fictional science rather than scientific fiction.)
  • Ciempiés ‘centipede’: cien ‘hundred’, + pies ‘feet’
  • Ferrocarril ‘railway’: ferro ‘iron’, + carril ‘lane’
  • Paraguas ‘umbrella’: para ‘to stop, stops’ + aguas ‘(the) water’
  • Cabizbajo ‘keeping the head low, in a bad mood’
  • Subibaja ‘seesaw’

Germanic languages

In Germanic languages, compound words are formed by prepending a descriptive word in front of the main word. For example, «starfish» is a specific «fish» with a «star» shape. Likewise, the noun phrase «star shape» means a «star»like «shape» (whatever a star is). Whereas «starfish» has an explicit definition, this is not required, as compounds like «star shape» and «starlike» can be composed when needed and understood by their implicit meaning. The compound word is understood as a word in itself. Therefore, it may in turn be used in new compound words, so forming an arbitrarily long word is trivial. This contrasts to Romance languages, where prepositions are more used to specify word relationships instead of concatenating the words.

As a member of the Germanic family of languages, English is special in that compound words are usually written in their separate parts. Although English does not form compound nouns to the extent of Dutch or German, noun phrases like «Girl Scout troop», «city council member», and «cellar door» are arguably compound nouns and used as such in speech. Writing them as separate words is merely an orthographic convention, possibly a result of influence from French.

Russian language

In the Russian language compounding is a common type of word formation, and several types of compounds exist, both in terms of compounded parts of speech and of the way of the formation of a compound.[1]

Compound nouns may be agglutinative compounds, hyphenated compounds (стол-книга ‘folding table’ lit. ‘table-book’, i.e., «book-like table»), or abbreviated compounds (portmanteaux: колхоз ‘kolkhoz’). Some compounds look like portmanteaux, while in fact they are an agglutinations of type stem + word: Академгородок ‘Akademgorodok’ (from akademichesky gorodok ‘academic village’). In agglutinative compound nouns, an agglutinating infix is typically used: пароход ‘steamship’: пар + о + ход. Compound nouns may be created as noun+noun, adjective + noun, noun + adjective (rare), noun + verb (or, rather, noun + verbal noun).

Compound adjectives may be formed either per se, e.g., бело-розовый ‘white-pink’, or as a result of compounding during the derivation of an adjective from a multiword term: Каменноостровский проспект ([kəmʲɪnnʌʌˈstrovskʲɪj prʌˈspʲɛkt]) ‘Stone Island Avenue’, a street in St.Petersburg.

Reduplication in Russian language is also a source of compounds.

Quite a few Russian words are borrowed from other languages in an already compounded form, including numerous «classical compounds» or internationalisms: автомобиль ‘automobile’.

Sanskrit language

Sanskrit is very rich in compound formation with seven major compound types and as many as 55 sub-types.[2] The compound formation process is an open-set, and it is not possible to list all Sanskrit compounds in a dictionary. Compounds of two or three words are more frequent, but longer compounds with some running through pages are not rare in Sanskrit literature.[2] Some examples are below (hyphens below show individual word boundaries for ease of reading but are not required in original Sanskrit).

  • हिमालय (IAST Himālaya, decomposed as hima-ālaya): Name of the Himalaya mountain range. Literally the abode of snow.[3] A compound of two words and four syllables.
  • प्रवर-मुकुट-मणि-मरीचि-मञ्जरी-चय-चर्चित-चरण-युगल (IAST pravara-mukuṭa-maṇi-marīci-mañjarī-caya-carcita-caraṇa-yugala): Literally, O the one whose dual feet are covered by the cluster of brilliant rays from the gems of the best crowns, from the Sanskrit work Panchatantra.[2] A compound of nine words and 25 syllables.
  • कमला-कुच-कुङ्कुम-पिञ्जरीकृत-वक्षः-स्थल-विराजित-महा-कौस्तुभ-मणि-मरीचि-माला-निराकृत-त्रि-भुवन-तिमिर (IAST kamalā-kuca-kuṅkuma-piñjarīkṛta-vakṣaḥ-sthala-virājita-mahā-kaustubha-maṇi-marīci-mālā-nirākṛta-tri-bhuvana-timira): Literally O the one who dispels the darkness of three worlds by the shine of Kaustubha jewel hanging on the chest which has been made reddish-yellow by the saffron from the bosom of Kamalā (Lakshmi), an adjective of Rama in the Kakabhushundi Rāmāyaṇa.[4] A compound of 16 words and 44 syllables.
  • साङ्ख्य-योग-न्याय-वैशेषिक-पूर्व-मीमांसा-वेदान्त-नारद-शाण्डिल्य-भक्ति-सूत्र-गीता-वाल्मीकीय-रामायण-भागवतादि-सिद्धान्त-बोध-पुरः-सर-समधिकृताशेष-तुलसी-दास-साहित्य-सौहित्य-स्वाध्याय-प्रवचन-व्याख्यान-परम-प्रवीणाः (IAST sāṅkhya-yoga-nyāya-vaiśeṣika-pūrva-mīmāṃsā-vedānta-nārada-śāṇḍilya-bhakti-sūtra-gītā-vālmīkīya-rāmāyaṇa-bhāgavatādi-siddhānta-bodha-puraḥ-sara-samadhikṛtāśeṣa-tulasī-dāsa-sāhitya-sauhitya-svādhyāya-pravacana-vyākhyāna-parama-pravīṇāḥ): Literally the acclaimed forerunner in understanding of the canons of Sāṅkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Pūrva Mīmāṃsā, Vedānta, Nārada Bhakti Sūtra, Śāṇḍilya Bhakti Sūtra, Bhagavad Gītā, the Ramayana of Vālmīki, Śrīmadbhāgavata; and the most skilled in comprehensive self-study, discoursing and expounding of the complete works of Gosvāmī Tulasīdāsa.[5] An adjective used in a panegyric of Jagadguru Rambhadracharya. The hyphens show only those word boundaries where there is no Sandhi. On including word boundaries with Sandhis (vedānta=veda-anta, rāmāyaṇa=rāma-ayana, bhāgavatādi=bhāgavata-ādi, siddhānta=siddha-anta, samadhikṛtāśeṣa=samadhikṛta-aśeṣa, svādhyāya=sva-adhyāya), this is a compound of 35 words and 86 syllables.

Recent trends

Although there is no universally agreed-upon guideline regarding the use of compound words in the English language, in recent decades written English has displayed a noticeable trend towards increased use of compounds. Recently, many words have been made by taking syllables of words and compounding them, such as pixel (picture element) and bit (binary digit). This is called a syllabic abbreviation.

There is a trend in Scandinavian languages towards splitting compound words, known in Norwegian as «særskrivingsfeil» (separate writing error). Because the Norwegian language relies heavily on the distinction between the compound word and the sequence of the separate words it consists of, this has dangerous implications. For example «røykfritt» (smokefree, meaning no smoking) has been seen confused with «røyk fritt» (smoke freely).

The German spelling reform of 1996 introduced the option of hyphenating compound nouns when it enhances comprehensibility and readability. This is done mostly with very long compound words by separating them into two or more smaller compounds, like Eisenbahn-Unterführung (railway underpass) or Kraftfahrzeugs-Betriebsanleitung (car manual). Such practice is also permitted in Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk), and encouraged between parts of the word that have very different pronunciation, such as when one part is a loan word or an acronym.

Compounding by language

  • Classical compounds
  • English compounds
  • Sanskrit compounds

See also

  • Bracketing paradox
  • Incorporation (linguistics)
  • Multiword expression
  • Neologism
  • Noun adjunct
  • Portmanteau compounds
  • Status constructus
  • Word formation
  • Syllabic abbreviation
  • Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein

Notes

  1. ^ Student Dictionary of Compound Words of the Russian Language(1978) ISBN 0-8285-5190-1
  2. ^ a b c Kumar, Anil; Mittal, Vipul; Kulkarni, Amba (2010). «Sanskrit Compound Processor». In Jha, Girish Nath (ed.). Sanskrit Computational Linguistics: 4th International Symposium, New Delhi, India, December 10–12, 2010: Proceedings (Volume 6465 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science / Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence Series). Springer. pp. 57–69. ISBN 3642175279, 9783642175275.
  3. ^ Harper, Douglas. «Himalaya». Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Himalaya. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
  4. ^ Kumar, Animesh (May 23, 2007). «Sruti Krta Rama Stuti». Stutimandal.com. http://www.stutimandal.com/new/poemgen.php?id=209. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
  5. ^ «Rambhadracharya — Virudavali: Virudavali of Guruji». Shri Tulsi Peeth Seva Nyas. http://jagadgururambhadracharya.org/virudavali. Retrieved July 1, 2011.

References

  • Kortmann, Bernd: English Linguistics: Essentials, Cornelsen, Berlin 2005.
  • Plag, Ingo: Word-formation in English, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003.

External links

  • Compound Words: When to Hyphenate

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