Stress in compound nouns
English has many compound nouns—combinations of two
words that together make a new noun, such as newspaper,
motorcycle, or post office. Some compound nouns are written
as one word (textbook, toothpaste, haircut). Others are
written as two words (high school, parking lot, swimming
pool). A much smaller number of compound nouns are
written with a hyphen between the two parts (T-shirt, dry-
cleaner, six-pack). There is no !rm rule to predict whether a
particular compound noun will be written as one word, two
words, or with a hyphen—we just have to check a dictionary
—and even then, di"erent dictionaries often list di"erent
spellings.
No matter how a compound noun is written, its stress is in
the same place—on the stressed syllable of the first element
in the word. The second part of the compound is unstressed:
ˈhaircut ˈbasketball poˈliceman ˈswimming pool
If the second part of the compound is a polysyllabic word
that would normally have a stressed syllable, all of its
syllables are still unstressed or only very lightly stressed.
ˈpaper ˈnewspaperˈcycle ˈmotorcycleˈofficer poˈlice officerˈorganizer ˈconference organizerThe stress pattern in compound nouns is di"erent from the
stress pattern in an ordinary adjective+noun combination.
While a compound noun is stressed on the !rst part, a phrase
with an adjective and a noun has some stress on both parts.
For example, these compound nouns and phrases have
di"erent stress patterns and di"erent meanings:
Compound Nouns:- ˈblackboard^ (something to write on)
- ˈWhite House^ (the home of the US president)
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