Compound and Derivative Nouns
Compound and Derivative Nouns
Compound Nouns
A compound noun is a type of noun that is formed by combining two or more words to create a single, unified noun with a specific meaning.
These words can be connected in various ways, including through spaces, hyphens, or as a single word.
Compound nouns are used to describe people, places, things, or concepts that are closely related or interconnected.
Open Compound Nouns: These compound nouns are written as separate words.
Toothbrush: The tooth and brush combine to form a tool for cleaning teeth.
School bus: School and bus together refer to a bus used to transport students to school.
Hyphenated Compound Nouns: These compound nouns are connected by hyphens.
Mother-in-law: This compound noun describes a person’s spouse’s mother.
Sister-in-law: It refers to a person’s brother’s wife or husband’s sister.
Closed Compound Nouns: These compound nouns are written as single words.
Football: Foot and ball are joined to describe a sport played with a round ball kicked by the feet.
Bookstore: It refers to a shop where books are sold.
Attributive Compound Nouns: These compound nouns are formed by combining an adjective and a noun.
Redhead: Red (adjective) and head (noun) combine to describe a person with red hair.
Darkroom: Dark (adjective) and room (noun) together refer to a room with minimal light used for developing photographs.
Derivative Nouns:
Derivative nouns are nouns that are derived or formed from other parts of speech, often through affixation (adding prefixes or suffixes) or other word formation processes.
You can derive a noun from a verb by adding the suffix -er or -ion.
Teach (verb) becomes teacher (noun).
Celebrate (verb) becomes celebration (noun).
Similarly, adjectives can be used to create derivative nouns:
Happy (adjective) becomes happiness (noun).
Childish (adjective) becomes childishness (noun).
About Nouns. Common and Proper Nouns