Vocabulary
Concept: Compound Words
Definition
- Compound words are those that are formed by joining two words together.
- These words might have their own meaning and at times they might have more than one meaning as well.
Examples:
- In the first example, ‘Light’ and ‘House’ are two words. We have combined both the words to make one word ‘Lighthouse’.
- In the second example, ‘Ice’ and ‘Cream’ are two words. We have combined both the words to make one word ‘Ice cream’.
- Here are some of the examples of mostly used compound words.
Sea + Shell = | Seashell |
Straw + Berry = | Strawberry |
Cup + Cake = | Cupcake |
Well + being = | Well-being |
Ice + cream = | Ice cream |
Types of Compound Words
There are three types of Compound words.
- Closed Compounds
- Hyphenated Compounds
- Open Compounds
Closed Compounds
Closed compounds are a combination of two words that don’t have a hyphen in between the words.
Examples :
- I love to eat cupcakes.
- My mother bought some strawberry from the market.
Hyphenated Compounds
Hyphenated compounds are a combination of two words that have a hyphen in between both the words.
Examples :
- He is a broad-minded person.
- Your parents care for your well-being.
Open Compounds
Open Compounds are a combination of two words which are separated by a space.
Examples :
- Ram is eating an ice cream.
- He is in the high school.
Common Errors
- Don’t get confused between the types of compound words. It is important to recognize which words take hyphens and which words don’t.
- In the first example, there are two words “life” and “long”. After combining both the words, we get the word “life-long” and a hyphen in between.
Incorrect and Correct Usage :
✔ Life-long
❌ Life long