[Guest]

My thread got me thinking about compound words in English and how they are constructed. (Wikipedia has some good content on the topic of compound words)

I can come up with a 3 component compound word: SEA MAN SHIP

Can you identify others, or even a FOUR component compound word ?

[Guest]

oh that takes alot of time i just tried pasting what you said then highlighting it than pressing quote i guess it doesn't work

[Guest]

Hit the reply button right here..........................................................................................................................................................................................................V

Edited May 11, 2011 by maurice

[Guest]

An answer to the question "Are there ANY that contain four components?" is yes.

As this site has a rule against offensive words being posted, I shall only hint at the word...

sonofa_____

(1) SON

(2) OF

(3) A

(4) _____ (female dog)

The compound word is usually in open form or abbreviated, but it can also be in closed form as indicated in the Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

Edited May 12, 2011 by Dej Mar

[Molly Mae]

An answer to the question "Are there ANY that contain four components?" is yes.

As this site has a rule against offensive words being posted, I shall only hint at the word...

sonofa_____

(1) SON

(2) OF

(3) A

(4) _____ (female dog)

The compound word is usually in open form or abbreviated, but it can also be in closed form as indicated in the Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

"Gun" isn't a bad word....is it? Good find, though. I've seen it used in novels before (probably Elmore Leonard), but wouldn't have guessed to look in a dictionary. Let's try define: on google...No. But there is a wikipedia page at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonofalady and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonofalady_stew

Where lady = b____

Edited May 12, 2011 by Molly Mae

[Guest]

shop-till-you-drop

Edited May 17, 2011 by tctiptop

[Guest]

shop-till-you-drop

Not bad, though there are those that are found in many published lexicons, such as jack-of-all-trades and jack-in-the-pulpit. Yet, I still believe the English compound word(s) sought after is not in hyphenated or open form, but in closed form.

Edited May 17, 2011 by Dej Mar