Dalton
I have a question. There are thousands of Chinese characters, so you can make a word out of any two characters, and it's easy to make words. But there are only 26 letters in English. How do you order a new word? I learned English derivations the other day, but I still don't understand them。
Jul 10, 2022 12:13 PM
Answers · 4
1
Hi Dalton, here are four ways you can get new words in English: 1. make new words out of existing words by combining or modifying them, e.g. lunch + time = lunchtime. 2. borrow words from other languages and add them into your own. English does this a lot. 3. derive words from Old English, i.e. evolution of the language over time. 4. coin new words. Every year, the Oxford dictionary adds new words that have been coined and recognised that year. I'm pretty sure it's the same for Merriam Webster. Hope this helps! :) I offer lessons and can help you improve your English. We can talk about this in greater detail, too. Please check out my profile and feel free to book one :)
July 11, 2022
1
Sometimes we borrow words from other languages. Sometimes we make acronyms like asap (as soon as possible), yolo. We can combine word parts from Latin, Greek, etc. (Hydro- , ad-) We can slightly alter the spelling or pronunciation of existing words.
July 10, 2022
1
It isn't a complete answer, but notice that in English we, too, make new words by combining two existing words. These are called "compound words." Often they start out with a hyphen joining the two words--"half-time," and then gradually people will think of it more and more as a single word and drop the hyphen, "halftime." There are hundreds of them. Here are just a few: airfield, blackberry, doughnut, earthquake, fireworks, headache, honeybee, moonlight, raincoat, stockbroker, toothpaste, wastebasket, wavelength.
July 10, 2022
This also applies to other languages with letters
July 10, 2022
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