compounding
Quick Summary
In grammar, compounding refers to the process of combining two or more words to create a new word with a distinct meaning. These new words, known as compound words, can be written as a single word (e.g., haircut), hyphenated (e.g., high-speed), or as separate words (e.g., health care).1
The meaning of a compound word is often derived from its components, with one word typically modifying the other. For instance, in "chain saw," "saw" is the main word, and "chain" specifies the type of saw. Compound words can function as nouns, adjectives, or verbs, depending on the part of speech of their main component. The formation of compound words can sometimes lead to confusion in spelling, as words that seem similar might be written differently depending on their grammatical function.12
Ask Britannica AI about this topic
Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.
Basque languageVocabulary…practice, as well as the compounding of nouns to form new words, as in bizkar-hezur ‘backbone,’ has been very much alive throughout the history of the language. On the other hand, Basque itself has contributed but little vocabulary to the Spanish, Occitan, French, and English languages. Nonetheless, family and place-names…
Read More…practice, as well as the compounding of nouns to form new words, as in bizkar-hezur ‘backbone,’ has been very much alive throughout the history of the language. On the other hand, Basque itself has contributed but little vocabulary to the Spanish, Occitan, French, and English languages. Nonetheless, family and place-names…
Read More
Slavic languagesVocabulary…archaic type of derivation by compounding, inherited from Indo-European, was particularly productive in Church Slavonic under the stimulus of Greek. Compounding remains one of the methods of creating new terms, especially technical terms (e.g., Russian vodokhranilishche ‘reservoir’ from voda ‘water’ and khranilishche ‘depository’), but is far less important than affixation.…
Read More…archaic type of derivation by compounding, inherited from Indo-European, was particularly productive in Church Slavonic under the stimulus of Greek. Compounding remains one of the methods of creating new terms, especially technical terms (e.g., Russian vodokhranilishche ‘reservoir’ from voda ‘water’ and khranilishche ‘depository’), but is far less important than affixation.…
Read More
Tai languagesMorphology…of forming new words is compounding—e.g., nâa-taa ‘countenance’ (literally, ‘face-eye’), kèp-kìaw ‘to harvest’ (literally, ‘gather-cut with a sickle’). Reduplication, the repetition of a word or part of it, is also quite common—e.g., díi-dii ‘very good’ from dii ‘good.’ Partial reduplication is also found, such as sanùk-sanǎan ‘to enjoy oneself’ from…
Read More…of forming new words is compounding—e.g., nâa-taa ‘countenance’ (literally, ‘face-eye’), kèp-kìaw ‘to harvest’ (literally, ‘gather-cut with a sickle’). Reduplication, the repetition of a word or part of it, is also quite common—e.g., díi-dii ‘very good’ from dii ‘good.’ Partial reduplication is also found, such as sanùk-sanǎan ‘to enjoy oneself’ from…
Read More
Tibeto-Burman languagesCompounding and phonological bulkClassical Chinese, with its relatively rich inventory of consonants, was strictly monosyllabic, with the syntactic word and the phonological syllable virtually coextensive; the same was undoubtedly true for PTB. In phonologically eroded modern languages such as Mandarin and Lahu, however, many…
Read MoreClassical Chinese, with its relatively rich inventory of consonants, was strictly monosyllabic, with the syntactic word and the phonological syllable virtually coextensive; the same was undoubtedly true for PTB. In phonologically eroded modern languages such as Mandarin and Lahu, however, many…
Read More
Uralic languagesCompoundingThe formation of nouns in Proto-Uralic included compounding (adding two or more words together) as well as derivation by the use of suffixes (word endings). In noun + noun constructions, including titles of address, the qualifying noun came first; compare Hungarian házhely ‘house site,’…
Read MoreThe formation of nouns in Proto-Uralic included compounding (adding two or more words together) as well as derivation by the use of suffixes (word endings). In noun + noun constructions, including titles of address, the qualifying noun came first; compare Hungarian házhely ‘house site,’…
Read More