Tip 697: Understanding Compound Words

From the Writing Workshop: Compounding Words 

Kinda like compounding interest, but easier to undertand. 

Compound words are made up of two or more words but used as a single word. Compounds can be closed (“taxpayer”), hyphenated (“tax-exempt”) or open (“tax shelter”). 

Compound words usually pass through several stages. They usually begin as two separate words, then gain a hyphen, and then close to become one word. 

For example, “sea food” (originally an open compound) became “sea-food” (with a hyphen), and then “seafood” (closed). 

Use a dictionary to determine the correct configuration. 

Don’t guess. The language changes too quickly, and it never allows logic to interfere. 

For example, while baseball and (first, second, or third) baseman are closed compounds, base hit and (first or third) base lines are open compounds. Does that make sense? No, it doesn’t.  

Hyphenate most compound words that describe other words. 

They’re called compound adjectives. 

well-known consultant 

reddish-brown stain 

Don’t hyphenate the compound if it follows the word it describes. 

The consultant was well known. 

The stain was reddish brown. 

Don’t hyphenate the compound if the first word ends in -ly: 

eagerly awaited announcement 

freshly renovated property 

slowly moving truck

This is fun. Thank you for reading. We appreciate you.    

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The answers to last week’s trivia questions:

Flopsy's last name is “Rabbit” (no surprise there). She has a twin named Mopsy. She has a younger brother named Peter and a younger sister named Cottontail (sometimes spelled “Cotton-tail.”)

Our source: Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Classic. One of the best-selling books in history.

And notice the compound “best-selling.”