English compound

Acompoundis a word composed of more than onefree morpheme.TheEnglish language,like many others, uses compounds frequently.English compoundsmay be classified in several ways, such as theword classesor thesemanticrelationship of their components.

History

English inherits the ability to form compounds from its parent theProto-Indo-European languageand expands on it.Close to two-thirds of the words in theOld EnglishpoemBeowulfare found to be compounds.Of all the types of word-formation in English, compounding is said to be the most productive.

Compound nouns

Most English compoundnounsarenoun phrases(i.e. nominal phrases) that include a noun modified byadjectivesornoun adjuncts.Due to the English tendency towardconversion,the two classes are not always easily distinguished. Most English compound nouns that consist of more than two words can be constructedrecursivelyby 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 assalt and pepperormother-of-pearl,cannot be constructed in this way, however.

Types of compound nouns

Native English compound

Since English is a mostlyanalytic language,unlike most otherGermanic languages,it creates compounds by concatenating words withoutcase 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 forms, which do not correspond to different pronunciations, though:

• Thespacedoropenformusually consisting of newer combinations or longer words,such as "distance learning", "player piano", "ice cream".
• Thehyphenatedform in which two or more words are connected by ahyphen.Are often hyphenated:
  • Compounds that containaffixes:"house-build(er)" and "single-mind(ed)(ness)",
  • Adjective–adjective compounds: "blue-green",
  • Verb–verb compounds: "freeze-dried",
  • Compounds that containarticles,prepositionsorconjunctions:"rent-a-cop", "mother-of-pearl" and "salt-and-pepper".
• Thesolidorclosedform in which two usually moderately short words appear together as one. Solid compounds most likely consist of short (monosyllabic) units that often have been established in the language for a long time. Examples are "housewife", "lawsuit", "wallpaper", "basketball".

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, spaced, hyphenated, and solid forms may be encountered for the same compound noun, such as the tripletsplace name/place-name/placenameandparticle board/particle-board/particleboard.

Examples by word class

Modifier	Head	Compound
noun	noun	football
adjective	noun	blackboard
verb	noun	breakwater
preposition	noun	underworld
noun	adjective	snow white
adjective	adjective	blue-green
verb	adverb	tumbledown
preposition	adjective	over-ripe
noun	verb	browbeat
adjective	verb	highlight
verb	verb	freeze-dry
preposition	verb	undercut
noun	preposition	love-in
adverb	preposition	forthwith
verb	adverb	takeout
preposition	adverb	without

Neo-classical compound

Main article:Neoclassical compound

In addition to this native English compounding, there is theneo-classicaltype, which consists of words derived fromClassical Latin,ashorticulture,and those ofAncient Greekorigin, such asphotography,the components of which are inboundform (connected byconnecting vowels,which are most often-i-and-o-in Classical Latin and Ancient Greek respectively) and cannot stand alone.

Analyzability (transparency)

In general, the meaning of a compound noun is aspecializationof the meaning of its head. Themodifierlimits the meaning of the head. This is most obvious indescriptive compounds(known askarmadharayacompounds in the Sanskrit tradition), in which the modifier is used in an attributive or appositional manner. Ablackboardis a particular kind of board, which is (generally) black, for instance.

Indeterminative compounds,however, the relationship is not attributive. For example, afootstoolis not a particular type of stool that is like a foot. Rather, it is astool for one's foot or feet.(It can be used for sitting on, but that is not its primary purpose.) In a similar manner, anoffice manageris the manager of an office, anarmchairis achair with arms,and araincoatis acoat against the rain.These relationships, which are expressed byprepositionsin English, would be expressed bygrammatical casein other languages. (Compounds of this type are known astatpurushain the Sanskrit tradition.)

Both of the above types of compounds are calledendocentriccompounds because the semantic head is contained within the compound itself—a blackboard is a type of board, for example, and afootstoolis a type ofstool.

However, in another common type of compound, theexocentric(known as abahuvrihicompound in the Sanskrit tradition), the semantic head is not explicitly expressed. Aredhead,for example, is not a kind of head, but is a personwithred hair. Similarly, ablockheadis also not a head, but a person with a head that is as hard and unreceptive as a block (i.e. stupid). And alionheartis not a type of heart, but a person with a heart like a lion (in its bravery, courage, fearlessness, etc.).

There is a general way to tell the two apart. In a compound "[X. Y]":

• Can one substitute Y with a noun thatisa Y, or a verb thatdoesY? This is an endocentric compound.
• Can one substitute Y with a noun that iswithY? This is an exocentric compound.

Exocentric compounds occur more often in adjectives than nouns. AV-8 caris a carwithaV-8 enginerather than a car thatisa V-8, and atwenty-five-dollar caris a carwitha worth of$25, not a car thatis$25. The compounds shown here are bare, but more commonly, asuffixalmorpheme is added, such as-ed:atwo-leggedperson is a personwithtwo legs, and this is exocentric.

On the other hand, endocentric adjectives are also frequently formed, using the suffixal morphemes-ingor-er/or.Apeople-carrieris a clear endocentric determinative compound: it is a thing thatisa carrier of people. The related adjective,car-carrying,is also endocentric: it refers to an object whichisa carrying-thing (or equivalently, whichdoescarry).

These types account for most compound nouns, but there are other, rarer types as well.Coordinative,copulativeordvandvacompounds combine elements with a similar meaning, and the compound meaning may be ageneralizationinstead of a specialization.Bosnia-Herzegovina,for example, is the combined area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but afighter-bomberis an aircraft that is both a fighter and a bomber.Iterativeoramreditacompounds repeat a single element, to express repetition or as an emphasis.Day by dayandgo-goare examples of this type of compound, which has more than one head.

Analyzability may be further limited bycranberry morphemesand semantic changes. For instance, the wordbutterfly,commonly thought to be ametathesisforflutter by,which the bugs do, is actually based on an old wives' tale that butterflies are smallwitchesthat stealbutterfromwindow sills.Cranberryis a part translation fromLow German,which is why we cannot recognize the elementcran(from the Low Germankraanorkroon,"crane" ). Theladybirdorladybugwas named after the Christian expression "ourLady,theVirgin Mary".

In the case of verb+noun compounds, the noun may be either thesubjector theobjectof the verb. Inplayboy,for example, the noun is the subject of the verb (the boy plays), whereas it is the object incallgirl(someone calls the girl).

Sound patterns

Stresspatterns may distinguish a compound word from a noun phrase consisting of the same component words. For example, ablack board,adjective plus noun, is any board that is black, and has equal stress on both elements.The compoundblackboard,on the other hand, though it may have started out historically asblack board,now is stressed on only the first element,black.Thus a compound such astheWhite Housenormally has a falling intonation which a phrase such asa white housedoes not.

Compound modifiers

Main article:Compound modifier

English compound modifiers are constructed in a very similar way to the compound noun.Blackboard Jungle,leftover ingredients,gunmetalsheen,andgreen monkey diseaseare only a few examples.

Acompound modifieris a sequence of modifiers of a noun that function as a single unit. It consists of two or more words (adjectives, gerunds, or nouns) of which the left-hand component modifies the right-hand one, as in "the dark-green dress":darkmodifies thegreenthat modifiesdress.

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,anddowntown.

However, in British usage, these, apart fromdowntown,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 thesuffix-foldadded: "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 (that is, regardless of whether in attributive or predicative position), because they are permanent compounds(whereas the general rule with temporary compounds is that hyphens are omitted in the predicative position because they are used only when necessary to prevent misreading, which is usually only in the attributive position, and even there, only on a case-by-case basis).

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 ascholar,or an old scholar who studiesEnglish
• "Old English scholar": a scholar ofOld English.
• "De factoproceedings "(not"de-facto")

If, however, there is no risk of ambiguities, it may be written without a hyphen:Sunday morning walk(a "walk on Sunday morning" is practically the same as a "morning walk on Sunday" ).

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"(historically, thesingularorrootis used, not theplural)

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 apreposition.

• "Stick on" → "stick-on label"
• "Walk on" → "walk-on part"
• "Stand by" → "stand-by fare"
• "Roll on, roll off" → "roll-on roll-offferry"

The following compound modifiers arealwayshyphenated when they are not written as one word:

• An adjective preceding a noun to which -dor -edhas been added as apast-participleconstruction, used before a noun:
  • "loud-mouthedhooligan"
  • "middle-agedlady "
  • "rose-tinted glasses"
• A noun, adjective, or adverb preceding apresent participle:
  • "an awe-inspiring personality"
  • "a long-lasting affair"
  • "a far-reaching decision"
• Numbers, whether or not spelled out, that precede a noun:
  • "seven-year itch"
  • "five-sidedpolygon"
  • "20th-century poem"
  • "30-piece band"
  • "tenth-storeywindow "
  • "a 20-year-old man" (as a compound modifier) and "the 20-year-old" (as a compound noun)—but "a man, who is 20 years old"
• A numeral with the affix-foldhas a hyphen (15-fold), but when spelled out takes a solid construction (fifteenfold).
• Numbers, spelled out or not, with added-odd:sixteen-odd,70-odd.
• Compound modifiers withhigh-orlow-:"high-level discussion", "low-price markup".
• Colours in compounds:
  • "a dark-blue sweater"
  • "a reddish-orange dress".
• Fractions as modifiers are hyphenated: "two-thirds majority", but ifnumeratorordenominatorare already hyphenated, the fraction itself does not take a hyphen: "a thirty-three thousandth part". (Fractions used as nouns have no hyphens: "I ate two thirds of the pie." )
• Comparatives and superlatives in compound adjectives also take hyphens:
  • "the highest-placed competitor"
  • "a shorter-term loan"
• However, a construction withmostis not hyphenated:
  • "the most respected member".
• Compounds including two geographical modifiers:

• "Anglo-Indian"

But not

• "Central American",which refers to people from a specific geographical region
• "African American",as a hyphen is seen to disparage minority populations as ahyphenated ethnicity

The following compound modifiers are not normally hyphenated:

• Compound modifiers that are not hyphenated in the relevant dictionaryor 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-lyand that modify right-hand components that are past participles (ending in -ed):
  • "a hotly disputed subject"
  • "a greatly improved scheme"
  • "a distantly related celebrity"
• Compound modifiers that includecomparativesandsuperlativeswithmore,most,lessorleast:
  • "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 admiredclassicist"
  • "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 (and withhyphensand commas if they are needed).

• 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

modifier	head	examples
adverb	verb	overrate, underline, outrun
adverb	verb	downsize,upgrade
adjective	verb	whitewash,blacklist
adjective	noun	badmouth
noun	verb	browbeat, sidestep, manhandle
preposition	noun	out-Herod,outfox

Acompound verbis usually composed of anadverband averb,although other combinations also exist. The termcompound verbwas first used in publication in Grattan and Gurrey'sOur Living Language(1925).

Some compound verbs are difficult to analyze morphologically 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 throughzero 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 thedirect objectof the verb.

Examples of compound verbs following the pattern of indirect-object+verb include "hand wash"(e.g."you wash it by hand"~>"you handwash it"), and"breastfeed"(e.g."she feeds the baby with/by/from her breast"~>"she breastfeeds the baby").

Examples of non-existent direct-object+verb compound verbs would be * "bread-bake"(e.g. "they bake bread"~> *"they bread-bake") and *"car-drive"(e.g."they drive a car"~> *"they car-drive").

Note the example of a compound like "foxhunt":although this matches the direct-object+verb pattern, it isnotgrammaticallyusedin a sentence as a verb, but rather as a noun (e.g. "they're hunting foxes tomorrow"~>"they're going on a foxhunt tomorrow",but"not"*"they're foxhunting tomorrow").

Hyphenation

Compound verbs with single-syllable modifiers are often solid, or unhyphenated.Those with longer modifiers may originally be hyphenated, but as they became established, they became solid, e.g.

• overhang (English origin)
• counterattack (Latin origin)

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, whileBritish Englishis more conservative.

Phrasal verbs

Englishsyntaxdistinguishes betweenphrasal verbsandadverbialadjuncts.Consider the following sentences:

Iheld upmy handimplies that Iraisedmy hand.

Iheld upthe negotiationsimplies that Idelayedthe negotiations.

Iheld upthe bank to the highest standardimplies that Idemandedmodel behavior regarding the bank.

Iheld upthe bankimplies either (a) that Irobbedthe bank or (b) that Ilifted upwarda bank [either literally, as for a toy bank, or figuratively, as in putting a bank forward as an example of something (although usually then the sentence would end with... as an exemplar.or similar)].

Each of the foregoing sentences implies a contextually distinguishable meaning of the word, "up," but the fourth sentence may differ syntactically, depending on whether it intends meaning (a) or (b). Specifically, the first three sentences renderheld upas aphrasal verbthat expresses an idiomatic, figurative, or metaphorical sense that depends on the contextual meaning of theparticle,"up." The fourth sentence, however, ambiguously rendersupeither as (a) aparticlethatcomplements"held," or as (b) anadverbthat modifies "held." The ambiguity is minimized by rewording and providing more context to the sentences under discussion:

Iheldmy handupimplies that Iraisedmy hand.

Iheldthe negotiationsupimplies that Idelayedthe negotiations.

Iheldthe bankupto the highest standardimplies that I expect model behavior regarding the bank.

Iheldthe bankupupstairsimplies that Irobbedthe upstairs bank.

Iheldthe bankup the stairsimplies that I lifted a (toy) bank along an upstairs route.

Thus, the fifth sentence renders "up" as the head word of an adverbial prepositional phrase that modifies, the verb,held.The first four sentences remain phrasal verbs.

TheOxford English Grammar(ISBN0-19-861250-8) distinguishes seven types of phrasal verbs in English:

• intransitivephrasal verbs (e.g.give in)
• transitive phrasal verbs (e.g.find out[discover])
• monotransitive prepositional verbs (e.g.look after[care for])
• doubly transitive prepositional verbs (e.g.blame[something]on[someone])
• copular prepositional verbs. (e.g.serve as)
• monotransitive phrasal-prepositional verbs (e.g.look up to[respect])
• doubly transitive phrasal-prepositional verbs (e.g.put[something]down to[someone] [attribute to])

English has a number of other kinds of compound verb idioms. There are compound verbs with two verbs (e.g.make do). These too can take idiomatic prepositions (e.g.get rid of). There are also idiomatic combinations of verb and adjective (e.g.come true,run amok) and verb and adverb (make sure), verb and fixed noun (e.g.go ape); and these, too, may have fixed idiomatic prepositions (e.g.take place on).

Misuses of the term

"Compound verb" is often confused with:

1. "verbphrase"/" verbal phrase "—Headed by a verb, manyverbal phrasesare multi-word but some are one-word: a verb (which could be a compound verb).
2. "phrasal verb"—A sub-type of verb phrase, which has aGrammatical particlebefore or after the verb, often having a more or less idiomatic meaning.
3. "complex verb" —A type ofcomplex phrase:Inlinguistics,while both "compound" and "complex" contrast with "simple", they are not synonymous (simpleinvolves a single element,compoundinvolves multiple similar elements,complexinvolves multiple dissimilar elements).

See also

• Metaphor
• Phrasal verb
• Portmanteau
• Syllabic abbreviations
• Morphology

Bibliography

• Fortson, Benjamin W (2010).Indo-European Language and Culture(2010 ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.ISBN978-1-4051-8895-1.
• Adams, Valerie (1987).An Introduction to Modern English Word-Formation.Longman Group.ISBN0-582-55042-4.
• Plag, Ingo (2003).Word-Formation in English.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-52563-3.
• Meyer, Charles (2009).Introducing English Linguistics(1st ed.). Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-83350-9.
• Carstairs-McCarthy, Andrew (2002).An Introduction to English Morphology.Edinburgh University Press.ISBN0-7486-1326-9.
• Pinker, Steven (1994).The Language Instinct(1st ed.). Great Britain: Penguin Books.ISBN978-0-14-017529-5.