sammensat

Sammensat is an adjective used in Danish and Norwegian to describe something that is made up of several parts or elements. The term comes from the idea of bringing together components, and it has cognates in other North Germanic languages that carry a similar meaning. In Danish, it is commonly used to indicate that a thing is not single or simple, but composed of multiple components.

In language and linguistics, sammensat is often applied to words formed by combining two or more stems, yielding what is called a compound word. In broader technical and everyday usage, the word can describe systems, constructions, or materials that result from assembling different parts. For example, a sammensat system or a sammensat konstruktion refers to something built from multiple subsystems or elements.

The related noun sammensætning or sammensætning expresses the makeup, composition, or arrangement of those parts. In education and science texts, sammensat is used to convey that a whole is more than the sum of its parts due to its assembled nature. While the English equivalents are typically stated as composite or compound, sammensat serves similar purposes within Danish and Norwegian discourse.

See also: compound word, composition, construction, system, materials science. Note that English translations vary by context, and the precise term may differ in Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish texts.