combining form

English - English

Definition of combining form in English English dictionary

In computer typography, the form of an accent that can be combined with other characters, as opposed to a single character that includes the accent

Some fonts support more of these ligatures and combining forms than others.

A form of a word used for combining with other words or other combining forms to make new words. A combining form may conjoin with an independent word (e.g., mini- + skirt), another combining form (e.g., photo- + -graphy) or an affix (e.g., cephal + -ic); it is thus distinguished from an affix, which can be added to either a free word or a combining form but not solely to another affix (e.g., Iceland + -ic but not pro- + -ic). It can also be distinguished historically from an affix when it is borrowed from another language in which it is descriptively a word (e.g., the French mal gave the English mal- in malodorous) or a combining form (e.g., the Greek kako-, a combining form of kakos, gave the English caco- in cacography)

a bound form used only in compounds; "`hemato-' is a combining form in words like `hematology'

A combining form is a word that is used, or used with a particular meaning, only when joined to another word. For example, `-legged' as in `four-legged' and `-fold' as in `fivefold' are combining forms. a word that is combined with another word or another combining form to make a new word, for example 'Anglo', meaning 'English', in the word 'Anglo-American'

Related Terms

combining forms

plural form of combining form

Hyphenation

com·bin·ing form

Turkish pronunciation

kımbaynîng fôrm

Pronunciation

/kəmˈbīnəɴɢ ˈfôrm/ /kəmˈbaɪnɪŋ ˈfɔːrm/

Etymology

() 1884