Nouns : Compound Nouns
A compound noun is a noun that is made up of at least two words: firewood, pet shop, jack-in-the-box, blackboard,post office, six-pack
There are three forms for compound nouns:
- With Spaces: ice cream, water tank, printer cartridge
- Without Spaces: footprint, stopwatch, suitcase
- With Hyphens: merry-go-round, passer-by, daughter-in-law
There are no hard and fast rules on which form to use. Just be aware that many of the words exist in more than one form.
You’ll just have to look them up if there is any doubt, Google is as good as anywhere…
Composition of Compound Nouns
Though there is no need for pupils of primary school age to be aware of any of what follows, I have included it for interest’s sake…
Most compound nouns are made up of two nouns or an adjective and a noun. For example:
- Noun + Noun: bath tub, witchcraft, seaman, wall-paper
- Adjective + Noun: hardware, highway, full moon, whiteboard
| Compound elements | Examples |
|---|---|
| noun + noun | bedroom water tank motorcycle printer cartridge |
| noun + verb | rainfall haircut train-spotting |
| noun + adverb | hanger-on passer-by |
| verb + noun | washing machine driving licence swimming pool |
| verb + adverb | lookout take-off drawback |
| adverb + noun | onlooker bystander |
| adjective + verb | dry-cleaning public speaking |
| adjective + noun | greenhouse software redhead |
| adverb + verb | output overthrow upturn input |