compound word

English

Etymology

compound +‎ word

Noun

compound word (plural compound words)

1. (linguistics) A word composed of two or more stems. Examples include pancake, two-tone, and school bus. In English, it may or may not have a space or hyphen.

   Synonym: compound

   Hyponyms: closed compound, open compound

   • 1994, James R. Hurford, Grammar: A Student's Guide[1]:

     Compound words contrast with words built up by the use of affixes. Thus, for example, re-use, substandard, hyperventilate, prehistoric and pro-communist woud not usually be counted as compound words ...

   • 2014, Kelly Hackett, Compound Words--Banana Splits Literacy Center:

     Some important vocabulary words your child needs to study are compound words. A compound word is made when two words are joined together to form a new word. For example, the word rainbow is made using the words rain and bow.

   • 2018, Dale D. Johnson, Words: The Foundation of Literacy[2]:

     As stated above, compound words are formed by joining two words into one word. Some compound words retain elements of the meanings of the two words. Examples include sunlight, flagpole, flying fish, and bridge-builder.

Translations

word composed of others

• Armenian: բարդ բառ (hy) (bard baṙ)
• Azerbaijani: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: скла́данае сло́ва n (skládanaje slóva)
• Breton: ger kevrennek m, liesger m
• Bulgarian: сло́жна ду́ма f (slóžna dúma)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 複合詞／复合词 (zh) (fùhécí), 复合词 (zh) (fùhécí), 合成詞／合成词 (zh) (héchéngcí), 合成词 (zh) (héchéngcí)

• Czech: složenina (cs) f
• Danish: sammensat ord n
• Dutch: samenstelling (nl) f
• Esperanto: kunmetaĵo
• Estonian: liitsõna (et)
• Finnish: yhdyssana (fi)
• French: mot composé (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Zusammensetzung (de) f, Kompositum (de) n, Bandwurmwort (de) n (colloquial)
• Greek: σύνθετη λέξη f (sýntheti léxi)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: összetétel (hu), összetett szó, szóösszetétel (hu)
• Icelandic: samsetning (is) f
• Indonesian: kata majemuk (id)
• Irish: comhfhocal m

  Old Irish: comṡuidigthe m

• Italian: parola composta (it) f
• Japanese: 複合語 (ja) (ふくごうご, fukugōgo), 合成語 (ja) (ごうせいご, gōseigo)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: ទ្វយវាទ (km) (tvea’yea’viet)
• Korean: 합성어(合成語) (ko) (hapseong'eo), 복합어(複合語) (ko) (bokhabeo)
• Lithuanian: žodžių junginys (lt) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: kata majmuk (ms)
• Malayalam: സമസ്തപദം (ml) (samastapadaṁ)
• Manx: co-ockle m
• Maori: kupu pūhui
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sammensetning (no) m or f, sammensatt ord n, kompositum n

  Nynorsk: samansetjing f, samansetning f, samansetting f, samansett ord n, kompositum n

• Persian: همساخته (hamsâxta)
• Polish: złożenie (pl)
• Portuguese: palavra composta f
• Romanian: cuvânt compus (ro) n
• Russian: сло́жное сло́во n (slóžnoje slóvo)
• Sanskrit: please add this translation if you can
• Scottish Gaelic: facal fillte m
• Serbo-Croatian: složenica (sh)
• Slovene: sestavljenka f
• Spanish: palabra compuesta (es) f
• Swedish: kompositum (sv) c, sammansättning (sv) c, sammansatt ord n
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: సమాసము (te) (samāsamu)
• Thai: คำสมาส (th) (kam sàmàat), คำประสม (th) (kam bpràsŏm), คำผสม (th) (kam pàsŏm)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: birleşik sözcük (tr), birleşik kelime (tr)
• Ukrainian: складне́ сло́во (uk) n (skladné slóvo)
• Uyghur: بىرىككەن سۆز (birikken söz)
• Vietnamese: từ ghép (vi)
• Volapük: koboyümavöd (vo)
• Walloon: mot d' aplacaedje (wa)
• Welsh: cyfansoddair m, gair cyfansawdd m

See also

• Category:English compound terms
• Category:Compound terms by language

Further reading

• Examples of Compound Words by Type, yourdictionary.com
• Compounds, dictionary.cambridge.org
• 6. Compounding Rules, govinfo.gov
• How do you decide whether a compound should be written as one word, separate words, or hyphenated words?, merriam-webster.com
• A Comprehensive Guide to Forming Compounds, merriam-webster.com
• English Language > Composition, britannica.com
• Compound Word, encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com
• What is the difference between compound words and derivational words?, linguistics.stackexchange.com
• §91. What is a Compound Word? in Greek and Latin Roots: Part I – Latin, pressbooks.bccampus.ca
• Should that word have a hyphen?, merriam-webster.com
• When do you need to use a hyphen for compound words?, apastyle.apa.org