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COMPOUND NOUNS Most compound nouns were initially written as separate words. As these compounds gained popularity, they next appeared joined by a hyphen. Later, as they became firmly established in the language, the hyphen disappeared, resulting in closed-form compound nouns.
This process continues today, and has even accelerated, with many words now being formed without an intermediary stage of hyphenation. There are already signs that more recently coined words, such as cell phone (1984), web site (1995) and home page (1992), may ultimately be written as one-word compound nouns (cellphone, website, and homepage). Remember, however, that closed form compounds are much less common in English than in Finnish, Swedish, or German. Now that we have explored the evolution of compound nouns, let's next take a look at two types of hyphenated compound nouns: those created from noun-noun combinations and phrasal verbs. |
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