Tuesday 21 May 2013

Compund words

Sometimes Spanish words are similar enough to English words that they can be guessed at. Others bear little resemblance to their English equivalents. One class of words I like is those (in either language) that can be broken into shorter words that are direct translations, for example:

honeymoon = luna de miel
honey = miel
moon = luna

abrebotellas = bottle opener
abre = he/she/it opens
botellas = bottles

I like these words where the meaning of a longer word can be deduced from the meaning of simpler words.

Other examples include bookmark = marcalibros; deathbed = lecho de muerte or treehouse = casa del arbol.

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