A compound is a word composed of more than one free morpheme.
English compounds may be classified in several ways, such as the word classes or the semantic
relationship of their components.
Compound nouns Most English compound nouns are noun phrases
that include a noun modified by adjectives or attributive nouns. Due to the English tendency
towards conversion, the two classes are not always easily distinguished. Most English
compound nouns that consist of more than two words can be constructed recursively by combining
two words at a time. Combining "science" and "fiction", and then combining the resulting
compound with "writer", for example, can construct the compound "science fiction writer". Some
compounds, such as salt and pepper or mother-of-pearl, cannot be constructed in this way,
Types of compound nouns Since English is a mostly analytic language,
unlike most other Germanic languages, it creates compounds by concatenating words without case
markers. As in other Germanic languages, the compounds may be arbitrarily long. However,
this is obscured by the fact that the written representation of long compounds always contains
spaces. Short compounds may be written in three different ways, which do not correspond
to different pronunciations, however: The "solid" or "closed" forms in which two
usually moderately short words appear together as one. Solid compounds most likely consist
of short units that often have been established in the language for a long time. Examples
are housewife, lawsuit, wallpaper, basketball, etc.
The hyphenated form in which two or more words are connected by a hyphen. Compounds that
contain affixes, such as house-build(er) and single-mind(ed)(ness), as well as adjective-adjective
compounds and verb-verb compounds, such as blue-green and freeze-dried, are often hyphenated.
Compounds that contain articles, prepositions or conjunctions, such as rent-a-cop, mother-of-pearl
and salt-and-pepper, are also often hyphenated. The open or spaced form consisting of newer
combinations of usually longer words, such as distance learning, player piano, lawn tennis,
etc. Usage in the US and in the UK differs and
often depends on the individual choice of the writer rather than on a hard-and-fast
rule; therefore, open, hyphenated, and closed forms may be encountered for the same compound
noun, such as the triplets container shipcontainership and particle boardparticleboard.
In addition to this native English compounding, there is the classical type, which consists
of words derived from Latin, as horticulture, and those of Greek origin, such as photography,
the components of which are in bound form and cannot stand alone.
Analyzability In general, the meaning of a compound noun
is a specialization of the meaning of its head. The modifier limits the meaning of the
head. This is most obvious in descriptive compounds, in which the modifier is used in
an attributive or appositional manner. A blackboard is a particular kind of board, which is black,
for instance. In determinative compounds, however, the relationship
is not attributive. For example, a footstool is not a particular type of stool that is
like a foot. Rather, it is a stool for one's foot or feet. In a similar manner, an office
manager is the manager of an office, an armchair is a chair with arms, and a raincoat is a
coat against the rain. These relationships, which are expressed by prepositions in English,
would be expressed by grammatical case in other languages.
Both of the above types of compounds are called endocentric compounds because the semantic
head is contained within the compound itself—a blackboard is a type of board, for example,
and a footstool is a type of stool. However, in another common type of compound,
the exocentric or, the semantic head is not explicitly expressed. A redhead, for example,
is not a kind of head, but is a person with red hair. Similarly, a blockhead is also not
a head, but a person with a head that is as hard and unreceptive as a block. And, outside
of veterinary surgery, a lionheart is not a type of heart, but a person with a heart
like a lion. Note in general the way to tell the two apart:
Can you paraphrase the meaning of the compound "[X . Y]" to A person/thing that is a Y, or
... that does Y, if Y is a verb? This is an endocentric compound.
Can you paraphrase the meaning if the compound "[X . Y]" to A person/thing that is with Y,
with X having some unspecified connection? This is an exocentric compound.
Exocentric compounds occur more often in adjectives than nouns. A V-8 car is a car with a V-8
engine rather than a car that is a V-8, and a twenty-five-dollar car is a car with a worth
of $25, not a car that is $25. The compounds shown here are bare, but more commonly, a
suffixal morpheme is added, esp. -ed. Hence, a two-legged person is a person with two legs,
and this is exocentric. On the other hand, endocentric adjectives
are also frequently formed, using the suffixal morphemes -ing or -er/or. A people-carrier
is a clear endocentric determinative compound: it is a thing that is a carrier of people.
The related adjective, car-carrying, is also endocentric: it refers to an object, which
is a carrying-thing. These types account for most compound nouns,
but there are other, rarer types as well. Coordinative, copulative or dvandva compounds
combine elements with a similar meaning, and the compound meaning may be a generalization
instead of a specialization. Bosnia-Herzegovina, for example, is the combined area of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, but a fighter-bomber is an aircraft that is both a fighter and a bomber.
Iterative or amredita compounds repeat a single element, to express repetition or as an emphasis.
Day by day and go-go are examples of this type of compound, which has more than one
head. Analyzability may be further limited by cranberry
morphemes and semantic changes. For instance, the word butterfly, commonly thought to be
a metathesis for flutter by, which the bugs do, is actually based on an old bubbe meise
that butterflies are petite witches that steal butter from window sills. Cranberry is a part
translation from Low German, which is why we cannot recognize the element cran. The
ladybird or ladybug was named after the Christian expression "our Lady, the Virgin Mary".
In the case of verb+noun compounds, the noun may be either the subject or the object of
the verb. In playboy, for example, the noun is the subject of the verb, whereas it is
the object in callgirl. Sound patterns
Stress patterns may distinguish a compound word from a noun phrase consisting of the
same component words. For example, a black board, adjective plus noun, is any board that
is black, and has equal stress on both elements. The compound blackboard, on the other hand,
though it may have started out historically as black board, now is stressed on only the
first element, black. Thus a compound such as the White House normally has a falling
intonation which a phrase such as a white house does not.
Compound modifiers
English compound modifiers are constructed in a very similar way to the compound noun.
Blackboard Jungle, leftover ingredients, gunmetal sheen, and green monkey disease are only a
few examples. A compound modifier is a sequence of modifiers
of a noun that function as a single unit. It consists of two or more words of which
the left-hand component modifies the right-hand one, as in "the dark-green dress": dark modifies
the green that modifies dress. Solid compound modifiers
There are some well-established permanent compound modifiers that have become solid
over a longer period, especially in American usage: earsplitting, eyecatching, and downtown.
However, in British usage, these, apart from downtown, are more likely written with a hyphen:
ear-splitting, eye-catching. Other solid compound modifiers are for example:
Numbers that are spelled out and have the suffix -fold added: "fifteenfold", "sixfold".
Points of the compass: northwest, northwestern, northwesterly, northwestwards. In British
usage, the hyphenated and open versions are more common: north-western, north-westerly,
north west, north-westwards. Hyphenated compound modifiers
Major style guides advise consulting a dictionary to determine whether a compound modifier should
be hyphenated; the dictionary's hyphenation should be followed even when the compound
modifier follows a noun, because they are permanent compounds.
Generally, a compound modifier is hyphenated if the hyphen helps the reader differentiate
a compound modifier from two adjacent modifiers that modify the noun independently. Compare
the following examples: "small appliance industry": a small industry
producing appliances "small-appliance industry": an industry producing
small appliances The hyphen is unneeded when capitalization
or italicization makes grouping clear: "old English scholar": an old person who is
English and a scholar, or an old scholar who studies English
"Old English scholar": a scholar of Old English. "De facto proceedings"
If, however, there is no risk of ambiguities, it may be written without a hyphen: Sunday
morning walk. Hyphenated compound modifiers may have been
formed originally by an adjective preceding a noun, when this phrase in turn precedes
another noun: "Round table" → "round-table discussion"
"Blue sky" → "blue-sky law" "Red light" → "red-light district"
"Four wheels" → "four-wheel drive" Others may have originated with a verb preceding
an adjective or adverb: "Feel good" → "feel-good factor"
"Buy now, pay later" → "buy-now pay-later purchase"
Yet others are created with an original verb preceding a preposition.
"Stick on" → "stick-on label" "Walk on" → "walk-on part"
"Stand by" → "stand-by fare" "Roll on, roll off" → "roll-on roll-off
ferry" The following compound modifiers are always
hyphenated when they are not written as one word:
An adjective preceding a noun to which -d or -ed has been added as a past-participle
construction, used before a noun: "loud-mouthed hooligan"
"middle-aged lady" "rose-tinted glasses"
A noun, adjective, or adverb preceding a present participle:
"an awe-inspiring personality" "a long-lasting affair"
"a far-reaching decision"
Numbers, whether or not spelled: "seven-year itch"
"five-sided polygon" "20th-century poem"
"30-piece band" "tenth-storey window"
"a 20-year-old man" and "the 20-year-old" – but "a man, who is 20 years old"
A numeral with the affix -fold has a hyphen, but when spelled out takes a solid construction.
Numbers, spelled out or not, with added -odd: sixteen-odd, 70-odd.
Compound modifiers with high- or low-: "high-level discussion", "low-price markup".
Colours in compounds: "a dark-blue sweater"
"a reddish-orange dress".
Fractions as modifiers are hyphenated: "five-eighths inches", but if numerator or denominator are
already hyphenated, the fraction itself does not take a hyphen: "a thirty-three thousandth
part". Comparatives and superlatives in compound
adjectives also take hyphens: "the highest-placed competitor"
"a shorter-term loan"
However, a construction with most is not hyphenated: "the most respected member".
Compounds including two geographical modifiers: "Afro-Cuban"
"African-American" "Anglo-Indian"
But not "Central American", which refers to people
from a specific geographical region
The following compound modifiers are not normally hyphenated:
Compound modifiers that are not hyphenated in the relevant dictionary or that are unambiguous
without a hyphen. Where there is no risk of ambiguity:
"a Sunday morning walk"
Left-hand components of a compound modifier that end in -ly and that modify right-hand
components that are past participles: "a hotly disputed subject"
"a greatly improved scheme" "a distantly related celebrity"
Compound modifiers that include comparatives and superlatives with more, most, less or
least: "a more recent development"
"the most respected member" "a less opportune moment"
"the least expected event"
Ordinarily hyphenated compounds with intensive adverbs in front of adjectives:
"very much admired classicist" "really well accepted proposal"
Using a group of compound nouns containing the same "head"
Special rules apply when multiple compound nouns with the same "head" are used together,
often with a conjunction. The third- and fourth-grade teachers met with
the parents. Both full- and part-time employees will get
raises this year. We don't see many 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children
around here. Compound verbs
A compound verb is usually composed of a preposition and a verb, although other combinations also
exist. The term compound verb was first used in publication in Grattan and Gurrey's Our
Living Language. From a morphological point of view, some compound
verbs are difficult to analyze because several derivations are plausible. Blacklist, for
instance, might be analyzed as an adjective+verb compound, or as an adjective+noun compound
that becomes a verb through zero derivation. Most compound verbs originally have the collective
meaning of both components, but some of them later gain additional meanings that may supersede
the original, emergent sense. Therefore, sometimes the resultant meanings are seemingly barely
related to the original contributors. Compound verbs composed of a noun and verb
are comparatively rare, and the noun is generally not the direct object of the verb. In English,
compounds such as *bread-bake or *car-drive do not exist. Yet, we find literal action
words, such as breastfeed, and washing instructions on clothing as for example hand wash.
Hyphenation Compound verbs with single-syllable modifiers
are solid, or unhyphenated. Those with longer modifiers may originally be hyphenated, but
as they became established, they became solid, e.g.,
overhang counterattack
There was a tendency in the 18th century to use hyphens excessively, that is, to hyphenate
all previously established solid compound verbs. American English, however, has diminished
the use of hyphens, while British English is more conservative.
Phrasal verbs English syntax distinguishes between phrasal
verbs and prepositional verbs. Consider the following:
I held up my hand. I held up a bank.
I held my hand up. *I held a bank up.
The first three sentences are possible in English; the last one is unlikely. When to
hold up means to raise, it is a prepositional verb; the preposition up can be detached from
the verb and has its own individual meaning "from lower to a higher position". As a prepositional
verb, it has a literal meaning. However, when to hold up means to rob, it is a phrasal verb.
A phrasal verb is used in an idiomatic, figurative or even metaphorical context. The preposition
is inextricably linked to the verb; the meaning of each word cannot be determined independently
but is in fact part of the idiom. The Oxford English Grammar distinguishes seven
types of prepositional or phrasal verbs in English:
intransitive phrasal verbs transitive phrasal verbs
monotransitive prepositional verbs doubly transitive prepositional verbs
copular prepositional verbs. monotransitive phrasal-prepositional verbs
doubly transitive phrasal-prepositional verbs English has a number of other kinds of compound
verb idioms. There are compound verbs with two verbs. These too can take idiomatic prepositions.
There are also idiomatic combinations of verb and adjective and verb and adverb, verb and
fixed noun; and these, too, may have fixed idiomatic prepositions.
Misuses of the term "Compound verb" is often used in place of:
"complex verb", a type of complex phrase. But this usage is not accepted in linguistics,
because "compound" and "complex" are not synonymous. "verb phrase" or "verbal phrase". This is
a partially, but not entirely, incorrect use. A phrasal verb can be a one-word verb, of
which compound verb is a type. However, many phrasal verbs are multi-word.
"phrasal verb". A sub-type of verb phrase, which have a particle as a word before or
after the verb. See also
Metaphor Phrasal verb
Portmanteau Syllabic abbreviations