combining form

C c

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- /ˈkɒm.baɪn fɔrm/
- /kəmˈbaɪn fɔːm/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- /ˈkɒm.baɪn fɔrm/

Definitions of combining form words

countable noun combining form A combining form is a word that is used, or used with a particular meaning, only when joined to another word. For example, '-legged' as in 'four-legged' and '-fold' as in 'fivefold' are combining forms. 3
noun combining form a linguistic element that occurs only as part of a compound word, such as anthropo- in anthropology 3
noun combining form a word form that occurs only in compounds or derivatives, and that can combine with other such forms or with affixes to form a word (Ex.: bio- and -lysis in biolysis) 3
noun combining form a linguistic form that occurs only in combination with other forms. In word formation, a combining form may conjoin with an independent word (mini- + skirt), another combining form (photo- + -graphy), or an affix (cephal- + -ic); it is thus distinct from an affix, which can be added to either a free word or a combining form but not solely to another affix (Iceland + -ic or cephal- + -ic but not pro- + -ic). There are three types of combining forms: (1) forms borrowed from Greek or Latin that are derivatives of independent nouns, adjectives, or verbs in those languages; these combining forms, used in the formation of learned coinages, often semantically parallel independent words in English (cf., for example, cardio- in relation to heart, -phile in relation to lover) and usually appear only in combination with other combining forms of Greek or Latin origin (bibliophile, not bookphile); (2) the compounding form of a free-standing English word; such a combining form usually has only a single, restricted sense of the free word, and may differ from the word phonetically. Compare -proof, -wide, -worthy, -land, -man; (3) a form extracted from an existing free word and used as a bound form, typically maintaining the meaning of the free word, or some facet of it. Compare heli-2 , mini-, para-3 , -aholic, -gate, -orama. Note that the term “combining form” does not specify placement before or after the element to which the form is attached. 1
noun combining form (grammar) A type of word part; a bound morpheme; used in combination with a word, a different combining form, or an affix to form a new word. 0
noun combining form (computing, typography) A character encoded from a sequence of other characters instead of a precomposed character. 0

See all 6 definitions of combining form

Information block about the term

Origin of combining form

First appearance:

before 1880

One of the 23% newest English words

First recorded in 1880-85

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Combining form

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Combining form

combining form popularity

This term is known only to a narrow circle of people with rare knowledge. Only 5% of English native speakers know the meaning of this word.

According to our data most of word are more popular. This word is almost not used. It has a much more popular synonym.

combining form usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Matching words

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