Reading Compound Words

Level 5

Greek compounds often combine stems with a linking vowel, commonly -ο-.

How It Works

Greek compounds often combine stems with a linking vowel, commonly -ο-.

The result can have its own stress, meaning and inflection. Not every apparent boundary is a productive rule, and an unfamiliar compound still needs contextual or dictionary confirmation.

GreekMeaning
βιβλιοπωλείοbookshop
ανοιγοκλείνωopen and close
μαχαιροπίρουναknives and forks or cutlery

Examples (3)

  1. βιβλιοπωλείο

    bookshop

  2. ανοιγοκλείνω

    open and close

  3. μαχαιροπίρουνα

    knives and forks or cutlery

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Reading Compound WordsLevel 5

Learn This First

Recognize a noun’s independent gender and paradigm before interpreting a derived noun or compound.

Words in This Pattern

-ο-