Log in or Sign up
cutthroat compound love

cutthroat compound

Definitions

Sorry, no definitions found. Check out and contribute to the discussion of this word!

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word cutthroat compound.

Examples

    Sorry, no example sentences found.

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • hugovk commented on the word cutthroat compound

    cutthroat compound, n.

    Brianne Hughes, 6th May 2015:

    Difficulties in Identifying English Cutthroat Compounds

    Cutthroats are agentive and instrumental exocentric verb-noun V+N compounds that name people and objects by describing their function (i.e., a cutthroat is a person who cuts throats). They are composed of a transitive verb and its direct object. Cutthroats are freely productive in Romance languages, which have a V.O. (verb-object) structure and are left-headed. English, which is V.O. and right-headed, has slight native productivity (Clark et al, 1986) that has been amplified and augmented by French borrowings (e.g., coupe-gorge and wardecorps). English has been slowly producing new cutthroats since the 1200s up through 2015, mainly in the form of nonce personal insults. Most cutthroats are obsolete slang, but about 40, including pickpocket, pinchpenny, rotgut and spitfire, are commonly known in Modern English.

    May 27, 2015