Compound words are born of the marriage of two words. For example, readhead (adjective + noun) or keyboard (noun + noun). The result is a new word with a new meaning. The same thing happened to these two words: spider + man = Spiderman.
There are three forms of compound words:
1. closed form
written as one word (evergreen, ladybug, toothbrush)
2. hyphenated form
joined together with a hyphen (baby-faced, second-hand, time-saving)
3. open form
written as two words (half brother, high school, real estate)
THE MOST COMMON COMPOUND WORDS WITH ‘NO’
1. NO-FAULT (adj.)
describes an accident or divorce in which there’s nobody to blame
- Tom’s cheated on his wife, but he’s hoping to get a no-fault divorce.
2. NO-FLY ZONE
an area where foreign airplanes are not allowed to fly
- I’d like to impose a no-fly zone over my weekend house.
3. NO-GO AREA
an area in a city where it’s too dangerous to go
- Are you sure you want to go to that nightclub? It’s in a no-go area. Not even Batman will go there to save you if you get in trouble.
4. NO-GOOD (adj.)
describes a bad or useless person/thing
- I caught Tom and Janet red-handed the other day. You know what? She can have that no-good husband of mine.
5. NO-MAN’S-LAND
an area between two countries that is not controlled by either (also used figuratively)
- Zack is trapped in no-man’s-land between criminality and conventional lifestyle.
6. NO-NO (noun)
something that’s not acceptable in a certain situation
- Posting selfies on the Internet was considered a big no-no when I was a teenager.
7. NO-SHOW (noun)
a person who doesn’t come when they are expecting him or her somewhere
- I’m so fed up with no-shows. How on earth am I supposed to make money if my customers just don’t turn up?
8. NO-SMOKING (also NON-SMOKING) (adj.)
describes a place where people are not allowed to smoke
- James Dean would have never had dinner in a no-smoking restaurant.
9. NO-WIN (adj.)
describes a situation that will end badly no matter what you do
- Do you think Captain Kirk might be facing a no-win situation this time?
How about NO ONE/ NOBODY, NOTHING and NOWHERE? Yes, they’re compound words too.
- Nobody could cheer me up right now.
- Nothing would make me feel better.
- There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
