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1 STUDY AND THINKING SKILLS – SUPPLEMENTAL READING

MORE WORDS FORMATION

The word formation processes of compounding,

clipping, and blending are important concepts when

creating words. Also included for download are

vocabulary lists of common English compounds,

clipped words, and blends.

Compounding

Compounding is the word formation process in

which two or more lexemes combine into

a single new word. Compound words may be

written as one word or as two words joined with a

hyphen. For example:

noun-noun compound: note + book

→ notebook

adjective-noun compound: blue +

berry → blueberry

verb-noun compound: work + room

→ workroom

noun-verb compound: breast + feed

→ breastfeed

verb-verb compound: stir + fry →

stir-fry

adjective-verb compound: high +

light → highlight

verb-preposition compound: break +

up → breakup

preposition-verb compound: out +

run → outrun

adjective-adjective compound: bitter

+ sweet → bittersweet

preposition-preposition compound:

in + to → into

Compounds may be compositional, meaning that

the meaning of the new word is determined by

combining the meanings of the parts, or

noncompositional, meaning that the meaning of the

new word cannot be determined by combining the

meanings of the parts. For example, a blueberry is

a berry that is blue. However, a breakup is not a

relationship that was severed into pieces in an

upward direction.

Compound nouns should not be confused

with nouns modified by adjectives, verbs,

and other nouns. For example, the

adjective black of the noun phrase black

bird is different from the adjective black of

the compound noun blackbird in

that black of black bird functions as a noun

phrase modifier while

the black of blackbird is an inseparable part

of the noun: a black bird also refers to any

bird that is black in color while a blackbird is

a specific type of bird.

Clipping

Clipping is the word formation process in which a

word is reduced or shortened without changing the

meaning of the word. Clipping differs from back-

formation in that the new word retains the

meaning of the original word. For example:

advertisement – ad

alligator – gator

examination – exam

gasoline – gas

gymnasium – gym

influenza – flu

laboratory – lab

mathematics – math

memorandum – memo

photograph – photo

public house – pub

raccoon – coon

reputation – rep

situation comedy – sitcom

telephone – phone

The four types of clipping are back clipping, fore-

clipping, middle clipping, and complex clipping.

Back clipping is removing the end of a word as

in gas from gasoline. Fore-clipping is removing the

beginning of a word as in gator fromalligator.

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2 STUDY AND THINKING SKILLS – SUPPLEMENTAL READING

Middle clipping is retaining only the middle of a

word as in flu from influenza. Complex clipping is

removing multiple parts from multiple words as

in sitcom from situation comedy.

Blending

Blending is the word formation process in which

parts of two or more words combine to create a

new word whose meaning is often a combination of

the original words. For example:

advertisement + entertainment →

advertainment

biographical + picture → biopic

breakfast + lunch → brunch

chuckle + snort → chortle

cybernetic + organism → cyborg

guess + estimate → guesstimate

hazardous + material → hazmat

motor + hotel → motel

prim + sissy → prissy

simultaneous + broadcast →

simulcast

smoke + fog → smog

Spanish + English → Spanglish

spoon + fork → spork

telephone + marathon → telethon

web + seminar → webinar

Blended words are also referred to as

portmanteaus (French word for “suitcase”).

SOURCE URL:

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plans/59679-forming-new-words-compounds-

clipping-and-blends/