Sunday, January 3, 2021

Literal Meaning of German Compound Nouns

Many German compound nouns consist of logical parts. They give us significant information about the word. Here are ten German compound nouns to illustrate:

Faultier lazy + animal (sloth)
Handschuh hand + shoe (glove)
Kühlschrank cool + shelf (refrigerator)
Nacktschnecke naked + snail (slug)
Regenschirm rain + shield (umbrella)
Schildkröte shield + toad (tortoise)
Speisekarte dish + card (menu)
Stinktier stink + animal (skunk)
Spielzeug play + thing (toy)
Wasserkocher water + cooker (kettle)

The German compound words are logical and give specific information about the words they describe. Umbrellas are for rain, kettles are for water and gloves are for the hand. German compound nouns are often very descriptive.





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