What are Compounds?
Words like ‘waterfall’ and ‘offhand‘ are called compounds. A compound is a word formed from two or more words. Every compound functions as a unit, but not all compounds are written as single words. Some compounds are written as separate words, such as house cat. Other compounds are written with hyphens, such as time-out. Find the compounds in the sentence below.
Example
This afternoon, Robin’s brother-in-law bought her a tape deck for her birthday.
Compounding is the most common way in which new words are formed in English. Many compounds are nouns, but they may also be other parts of speech. Always use hyphens when writing compounds formed from three or more separate words, such as merry-go-round.
Hyphenated Compound Nouns
| Mother-in-law | merry-go-round |
| Brother-in-law | six-pack |
| Commander-in-chief | check-in |
| Vice-president | runner-up |
| Editor-in-chief | time-out |
Where are Compounds Used?
Compounds are used to name many kinds of occupations, such as police officer and cowhand. Many informal and slang words are compounds, such as copycat, butterfingers, and hothead.
Compounds can be any part of speech- sunbelt, noun; anyone, pronoun; outgrow, verb; well-known, adjective; inside, adverb; throughout, preposition; whenever, conjunction; fiddlestick, interjection.
What is the Part of Speech of Each Compound in the Sentence Below?
As the countdown for the moonshot continued, a hand-picked, well-prepared crew undertook last-minute preparations for the blastoff of the spacecraft from the launch pad.
Part of Speech Combinations in Compound Words
| Noun + Noun | Adjective + Noun |
| 1. toothpaste (tooth + paste) | 1. blueberry (blue + berry) |
| 2. football (foot + ball) | 2. blackboard (black + board) |
| Noun + Verb | Verb + Noun |
| 1. sunset (sun + set) | 1. swimming pool (swimming + pool) |
| 2. rainfall (rain + fall) | 2. drinking water (drinking + water) |
| Verb + Verb | Adjective + Verb |
| 1. makeup (make + up) | 1. dry-clean (dry + clean) |
| 2. pickup (pick + up) | 2. highlight (high + light) |
| Adverb + Verb | Noun + Adjective |
| 1. overlook (over + look) | 1. snow-white (snow + white) |
| 2. underestimate (under + estimate) | 2. world-famous (world + famous) |
| Adverb + Adjective | Adverb + Noun |
| 1. everlasting (ever + lasting) | 1. underground (under + ground) |
| 2. well-known (well + known) | 2. overcoat (over + coat) |
These four words-up, down, over, and under are used in hundreds of compounds. Below are a few examples.
List of Compounds
| uphold | downhill | overboard | undertow |
| backup | splashdown | turnover | thereunder |
Compound Words Exercises
A. Add a word below to form a compound.
| work | ________________ | day | ________________ |
| house | ________________ | paper | ________________ |
| time | ________________ | some | ________________ |
| dream | ________________ | back | ________________ |
| place | ________________ | mate | ________________ |
| plate | ________________ | ground | ________________ |
| foot | ________________ | hand | ________________ |
| off | ________________ | stone | ________________ |
| turn | ________________ | up | ________________ |
B. Add the words below to back, time, or down to form compounds needed to complete the sentences.
| touch | show | stop | pack | out |
| hand | stroke | over | knock | field |
- Many swimmers do the back _____________.
- The tennis player had an excellent back _____________.
- The catcher missed the pitch, and the ball hit the back _____________.
- The football player’s position was in the back _____________.
- Wilderness hikers carry equipment in a back _____________.
- A time _____________ was called; the coach needed time to think.
- The clock ran down and the game went into _____________ time.
- The boxer fell but quickly got up. it was only a _____________ down.
- The quarterback scored his ninth _____________ down.
- The skater faced his rival in a _____________ down for the championship.