We explain what compound words are, how they are formed, how to spell them, and various examples. Also, we provide sentences with compound words and more.
What Are Compound Words?
Compound words are formed by joining two or more words or roots through a morphological process called compounding.
Compounding is a common phenomenon in Spanish and many other languages. It is especially used in the formation of neologisms, that is, terms that emerge to name a new reality. This process occurs when two words that already exist in the language are combined and may or may not have the same grammatical category. The result is a new word that functions as an independent unit and is governed by the usual rules of accentuation and spelling.
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Combinations of Compound Words
Compound words are formed by joining two elements, which are usually nouns, adjectives, and verbs in the most common cases, but can also be adverbs or pronouns. Some possible combinations are:
- Noun + noun. For example: bocacalle (mouth + street).
- Noun + adjective / adjective + noun. For example: boquiabierto (mouth + open), medianoche (midnight).
- Noun + verb / verb + noun. For example: maniatar (hand + tie), abrelatas (open + cans).
- Adjective + adjective. For example: sormudo (deaf + mute).
- Verb + verb. For example: subibaja (go up + go down).
- Adverb + adjective. For example: bienpensante (well + pensant).
- Adverb + verb / verb + adverb. For example: malgastar (bad + spend), mandamás (mandar + más).
- Pronoun + verb. For example: quehacer (que + hacer).
- Adverb + noun. For example: bienandanza (well + andanza).
Additionally, in some cases, compound words can be formed by joining three or more elements. For example: sabelotodo (know + lo + todo).
How are compound words spelled?
Compound words can be written in three ways:
- They form a single word. Two words or roots are joined together to form a single word. The elements that are joined together can be modified, such as shortening, changing a letter, or adding others. For example: arcoíris (rainbow), pelirrojo (redhead), centipede.
- They are separated. Two words are used to refer to a single element, but they are written with a space between them. In some cases, they can also be written together. In others, they are a preliminary step before dictionaries accept them as a single word. For example: swordfish, New Year, environment.
- They are joined by a hyphen. Two words are joined by a hyphen (-) to designate a single referent. For example: political-social, actor-writer, theoretical-practical.
How are compound words accented? Compound words that are separated or joined by a hyphen retain the accent and accent marks of the simple words that comprise them. For example: bird, fly, political-economic. On the other hand, in compound words that form a single word, the first word loses its accent mark and only the second word retains the accent mark, if applicable. For example: cybercafé, decimothirteenth, scarecrow.
Sentences with Compound Words
- Juan washed the sweater with the stain remover.
- This book contains jokes, riddles, and tongue twisters.
- There are many sunflowers in the house’s garden.
- They put together a thousand-piece puzzle.
- The park ranger lives in a cabin near the river.
- When is your birthday?
- Basketball is a very entertaining sport.
- Congratulations! What great news!
- The lawyer put the papers in his briefcase.
- They went to the city and took many photographs of the skyscrapers.
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Simple, Derived, and Para synthetic Words
| Type of Word | Components | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Simple or Primitive Words | A single word or a single root. | sun |
| Derived Words | Prefix + word or root. Word or root + suffix. | remake (re- + make) solar (sol + -ar) |
| Compound Words | Two or more words or roots. | parasol (parar + sun) |
| Para synthetic Words | Word or root + word or root + suffix. Word or root + word or root + suffix. | midfielder (mid + field + -ist) nightfall (a- + night + -ecer) |
Simple words, also called primitive words, are those composed of a single root. They may or may not have inflectional morphemes, that is, elements that indicate number, gender, tense, mood, person, among other types of grammatical information. For example: sun, dog, walk, eat, beautiful, ugly, good, bad, tomato, health.
Furthermore, simple words serve as the basis for compounding processes. A compound word involves two or more simple words, or their roots. For example, the compound word “parasol” is formed by joining the simple words “parar” and “sol.”
Derived words are those that are the result of a derivation process, where prefixes or suffixes are added to a word or its root to change its meaning or grammatical category. Thus, word families are formed, that is, groups of derived words that come from a single simple word. For example, from the simple or primitive word “sol” come “solada,” “solar,” “insolar,” “solcito,” and “asolear.”
Parasynthetic words are those formed through the process of parasynthesis, that is, two other elements are added to a simple word or root at the same time. These elements can be another root and a suffix, or a prefix and a suffix. For example, the parasynthetic word “anochecer” is formed by simultaneously adding the prefix a- and the suffix -ecer to the root word “noch-” (at night).
References
All the information we offer is supported by authoritative and up-to-date bibliographic sources, ensuring reliable content in line with our editorial principles.
- Gómez Torrego, L. (2007). Morphological Analysis. Theory and Practice. Ediciones SM.
- Royal Spanish Academy. (2010). New Grammar of the Spanish Language. Espasa.
- Royal Spanish Academy. (2014). Dictionary of the Spanish Language (23rd ed.). https://dle.rae.es
- Royal Spanish Academy. (2019). Glossary of Grammatical Terms. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.
