Which term describes words created by combining two or more words, such as washing machine or mother-in-law?

• A. Compound words
• B. Bound morpheme
• C. Syntax
• D. Morphology

Answer: (A)

Putting two independent words together to make a new word is called compounding, and the result is a compound word. Washing machine and mother-in-law show this idea: two familiar words are joined to convey a new meaning, whether written as a single word, with a hyphen, or as two words. This is a common way English builds vocabulary and is a specific word-formation pattern within morphology.

Bound morpheme refers to a small unit that can’t stand alone, like -ed or un-, which is about how words are built from pieces rather than joining full words. Syntax deals with how words are arranged to form sentences, not how individual words are formed. Morphology is the broader study of word structure and formation in general, including compounding and affixation. Since the question focuses on the type of word created by joining two or more words, the term that fits best is compound words.