What is a compound word best described as?

• A. A word with a prefix and suffix.
• B. A word borrowed from another language.
• C. Combining two words to create a new word.
• D. A word that rhymes with another word.

Answer: (C)

A compound word is formed when two or more words are joined to create a new word with its own meaning. This is shown in examples like sun + flower becoming sunflower, basket + ball becoming basketball, or tooth + paste becoming toothpaste. The idea is that the new term uses the meanings of its parts to convey something new. Some compound words are written together, some with a hyphen, and some as separate words, but they all come from combining words to form a new one. It isn’t about prefixes and suffixes, nor about borrowing from another language, nor about rhyming. The key idea is simply combining words to make a new word.