Compound nouns in English
See also:
English grammar guide (all about English grammar)
Exercises + PDF worksheets (online exercises and PDF to download)
English nouns (more about English nouns)
Grammar rules with examples
- What are compound nouns?
- Types of compound nouns:
Open (swimming pool, first aid, hot dog...)
Closed (grandmother, snowball, railway...)
Hyphenated (mother-in-law, merry-go-round...)
- Learn how to hyphenate compound nouns:
letter writers vs. public letter-writers
housekeeper vs. lodging-house keeper
- With the relaxed attitude toward spelling, a lot of compound nouns gradually develop:
all right vs. alright, back yard vs. back-yard vs. backyard, check in vs. check-in...
- A list of open (two words) compound nouns:
air force, fairy tale, street lamp, goose bumps...
- A list of closed (one word) compound nouns:
banknote, honeymoon, painkiller, password, rainbow, runway...
- A list of hyphenated compound nouns:
co-worker, empty-handed, old-fashioned, passer-by, runner-up, single-minded...
- Long lists of all types of compound words:
open, closed and hyphenated.
Video
- What are compound nouns? How do we pronounce them? A five-minute video by a native speaker for intermediate or higher levels.