Wit and Humour
Compound words
Learn about compound words made of more than one word.
Look at three words from the story: Cat's-food-Man, bird language, flowerpots. Each is made of more than one word. But are they all written the same way? No!
A compound word joins two words to make a new word with a new meaning. A flowerpot isn't a flower, and isn't just any pot; it's a third thing.
There are three types, and they differ only in how they're written:
| Type | How it's written | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| hyphenated | with a hyphen (-) | Cat's-food-Man, check-in, well-bred |
| open | as two separate words, read as one idea | bird language, sailor song, plough horse, harvest mice |
| closed | as one single word | flowerpots, teatime, windowsill |
There's no rule from the meaning; it's just how the language has settled. Many words start open, become hyphenated, and end up closed: to day → to-day → today.
Build your own:
| Join | Get |
|---|---|
| fun + loving | fun-loving |
| high + flying | high-flying |
| never + ending | never-ending |
| early + risers | early risers |
| song + birds | songbirds |
| over + head | overhead |
| tree + tops | treetops |
In sentences: "The fun-loving dolphins danced. The never-ending chatter of monkeys echoed through the treetops. High-flying eagles soared overhead. Early risers among the songbirds chirped joyfully."
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