How to Form Compound Nouns in Italian

Where does the word â€Å"autostrada - highway† come from? It comes from two words: auto (car) and strada (street), giving it a literal meaning of â€Å"a street for cars.† This is just one example of a compound noun in Italian, or a word that is combined of two other words. In Italian linguistics, this is called a â€Å"composto - compound† or a â€Å"parola composta - compound word.† Other examples include: fermare carte  » fermacarte - paperweightpasta asciutta  » pastasciutta - dried pastacassa panca  » cassapanca - dresser Creating compound nouns is one of the primary ways, after adding suffixes, to increase the amount of vocabulary in the language. The formation of new words is particularly useful to the development of terminologie tecnico-scientifiche (scientific and technical terminology). Consider, for example, the numerous compound nouns with Greek elements in the language of medicine: elettrocardiogramma - electrocardiogramcancerogeno - carcinogenic What Makes Up a Compound Noun A compound need not be two (or more) forme libere, such as â€Å"asciuga(re)† and â€Å"mano† in â€Å"asciugamano.† They can also be two (or more) forme non libere, such as antropo- (from the Greek à ¡nthrÃ… pos man) and -fago (from the Greek phaghà ªin to eat) in antropofago he who eats human flesh. The Greek elements antropo- and -fago, unlike asciuga(re) and mano, do not exist as stand-alone words, but are found only in compound nouns. Aside from this difference, another should be noted: in compound nouns, such as â€Å"asciugamano,† there is the sequence verb (asciugare) noun (mano) while those such as antropofago have an inverse sequence: noun (antropo- man) verb (-fago to eat). In any event, there is a fundamental property common to these two compounds: the implied, underlying phrase of both has a verbal predicate: (qualcosa) asciuga (la) mano  » asciugamano - (something) dries (the) hand  » hand towel(qualcosa) mangia (l) uomo  » antropofago - (something) eats (the) man  » cannibal In other cases, however, the implied phrase of the compound has a nominal predicate. In other words, it is a sentence containing the verb essere: (il) filo (à ¨) spinato  » filo spinato - (the) wire (is) barbed  » barbed wire(la) cassa (à ¨) forte  » cassaforte - (the) box (is) strong  » strongbox, safe    EXAMPLES OF ITALIAN COMPOUND NOUNS Noun Noun / Nome Nome capo stazione  » capostazione - stationmastercapo giro  » capogiro - dizzinesscassa panca  » cassapanca - dressermadre perla  » madreperla - mother-of-pearl Noun Adjective / Nome Aggettivo cassa forte  » cassaforte - strongbox, safe Adjective Noun / Aggettivo Nome franco bollo  » francobollo - stampmezza luna  » mezzaluna - half-moon Adjective Adjective / Aggettivo Aggettivo piano forte  » pianoforte - pianosordo muto  » sordomuto - deaf-mute Verb Verb / Verbo Verbo dormi veglia  » dormiveglia - stupor, lethargysali scendi  » saliscendi - latch Verb Noun / Verbo Nome apri scatole  » apriscatole - can openerlava piatti  » lavapiatti - dishwasherspazza neve  » spazzaneve - snowplow Verb Adverb / Verbo Avverbio posa piano  » posapiano - slowpokebutta fuori  » buttafuori - bouncer Adverb Verb / Avverbo Verbio bene stare  » benestare - approval, blessing, consentmale essere  » malessere - unease, discomfort Adverb Adjective / Avverbo Aggettivo sempre verde  » sempreverde - evergreen Preposition or Adverb Noun / Preposizione o Avverbio Nome sotto passaggio  » sottopassaggio - underpassanti pasto  » antipasto - appetizersopra nome  » soprannome - nicknamedopo scuola  » doposcuola - after-school    Compound Nouns with â€Å"Capo† Among the compounds formed using the term capo (head), in the figurative sense, a distinction must be made between: those in which the term capo indicates one who commands, the manager: capo scuola  » caposcuola - deancapo stazione  » capostazione - stationmastercapo classe  » capoclasse - class president and those in which the element capo indicates either excellence or beginning of something: capo lavoro  » capolavoro - masterpiececapo verso  » capo verso - paragraph, indent There are also other types of compounds, formed in more diverse ways: capodanno capo dellanno (noun preposition noun) - New Year, end of the yearpomodoro pomo doro (noun preposition noun) - tomatobuono-sconto buono per ottenere uno sconto - discount ticketfantascienza scienza del fantastico - science fiction