ALL meanings of combining form
combining form
C c - 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