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Definition of Combining form
1. Noun. A bound form used only in compounds. "`hemato-' is a combining form in words like `hematology'"
Generic synonyms: Bound Form, Bound Morpheme
Definition of Combining form
1. Noun. 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). ¹
2. Noun. 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. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Combining Form
Literary usage of Combining form
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. A Manual of Chemistry: On the Basis of Turner's Elements of Chemistry by John Johnston, Edward Turner (1860)
"Two solids may, in combining, form a liquid, as is the case when crystals of
sulphate of soda and nitrate of ammonia are rubbed together in a mortar, ..."
2. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage by Inc. Merriam-Webster (1994)
"The exact English correspondent of -logia is -logy, as in eulogy (where it is
appended to the Greek combining form eu- meaning “good”). ..."
3. Trukese-English Dictionary =: Pwpwuken Tettenin Fóós, Chuuk-Ingenes by Ward Hunt Goodenough, Hiroshi Sugita (1990)
"It has not been possible to determine the combining form class and hence the base
form of some roots. These roots are shown with # in place of a final vowel ..."
4. The Chemical News and Journal of Industrial Science (1901)
"From this fallows the isolated, independent position of hydrogen with the lowest
atomic weight." " According to the (combining) form of its salt-like oxide, ..."
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