Dictionary

open compound en · NOUN

Meanings

1. A compound word with spaces in it, for example, high school, school bus, or science fiction.
   • Thus such words, to give only a very few examples, as pismire, baise-mains, favonian, hearstling, happenstance, chanticleer, and open compounds like guardhouse lawyer,sidewalk superintendent and slush fund are registered without any kind of status label ... 1966, Ladislas Országh, Deficiencies of Modern English Dictionaries in English Studies Today, Fourth Serieshttps://books.google.com/books?id=ftJKfD7WKwcC&pg=PA71&dq=%22open+compounds%22
   • Some compounds are written as space-separated words, which are called open compounds (e.g. hard drive), while others are written as single words, which are called closed compounds (e.g. wallpaper). In this paper, we shall focus only on closed compounds because open compounds do not require further splitting. 2011, Language-independent Compound Splitting with Morphological Operationshttps://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/37093.pdf
   • The examples also exemplify the three forms that compound words take: 1) open compound (snail mail); 2) hyphenated compound (eagle-eyed); and 3) solid compound (bookworm). 1992, Sheila Davis, The Songwriter's Idea Bookhttps://books.google.com/books?id=6hhjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT143
   • In an open compound, the component words are separate, with no hyphen (well fed; wagon train). 2008, Oxford American Large Print Dictionaryhttps://books.google.com/books?id=V585_u2mRG0C&pg=PA1398&dq=%22open+compound%22
   • A subentry is an open compound (e.g., express contract) whose major element is the noun (contract at whose alphabetical place the subentry is entered. 1996, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Lawhttps://books.google.com/books?id=JYs74quLWLIC&pg=PR7&dq=%22open+compound%22
   • Two-word compounds--named open compounds in Edward N. Teall's Meet Mr. Hyphen--are in fact very common. 1951, English Journal, Volume 40
   • Should the Yiddish noun ris-uf 'start' be written as an open or a hyphenated compound? The MEYYED gives it as an open compound (ris uf) in the English- Yiddish ... 1981, Jewish Language Review
   • Further, the language permits open compounds, as indicated above, so that we might conjecture such spellings as "battlecry, battle-field, battle ground, battle-piece and battlewise." 1971, Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, Volume 5https://books.google.com/books?id=dvWkHF_6NAgC&pg=PA52&dq=%22open+compounds%22

Forms

Coordinates

hyphenated compound · closed compound · closed compound

Hypernyms

compound word · phrase · compound word · compound

Translations (4)

fi erikseen kirjoitettu yhdyssana (compound word with spaces in it) · hu különírt összetétel (compound word with spaces in it) · sv särskrivning (compound word with spaces in it) · pl zestawienie (compound word with spaces in it)