composita

Composita is a linguistic term used to describe compound words formed by combining two or more lexemes into a single unit. The term derives from Latin compositus, meaning placed together, and in some linguistic traditions composita is used as a neutral label for compounds, sometimes appearing as a Latinized form in scholarly writing. In English-language usage the term is less common than “compound word,” but it appears in discussions of morphology and word formation.

Composita are typically created by joining a head and one or more modifiers, and they can appear in different orthographic forms depending on the language and conventions: closed compounds (sunflower, tablelamp), hyphenated compounds (mother-in-law), or open compounds (post office). German is especially known for productive closed composita, where multiple nouns fuse to form new words such as Tischlampe (table lamp) or Kraftfahrzeug (motor vehicle). Other languages have analogous processes with their own rules for capitalization, gender, and inflection.

In scholarly analysis, composita are distinguished from multiword expressions and phrases by their status as a single lexical item in many contexts, though some are highly transparent and compositional in meaning (for example, wind turbine). The boundaries between true composita and less-integrated word blends or phrases can vary across languages and theoretical approaches.

See also: Kompositum, compound word, morphology, word formation.