COMPOUND WORD:

compound wordi
A word composed of two other words. Examples include:
crime reporter  fortune-teller  scarecrow
As the examples show, the two words that form the compound are sometimes written separately, sometimes linked by a hyphen, and sometimes joined together. For many compounds there is a standard way, but other compounds are written in more than one way. For example:
paper knife  paper-knife  paperknife
In modern English there is a tendency to avoid the hyphenated version if possible and use either a single word or two words. In the United States people often prefer a single word (for example airfare), while in Britain two words are preferred (for example air fare).
See also hyphen.

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