Help in Linguistics

[M12]

Hello !

I did not understand very well what wanted to mean “Endocentric/Exocentric compounds”. I would like to know the direction in general.

If somebody understood what that wants to say please help me.

Thank you in advance.

Marie

[philo2009]

An ENDOCENTRIC compound is one in which two words are added together to denote a particular kind of the second, e.g., doghouse (= a HOUSE for a dog) or ratrace (= a RACE for rats [literally, anyway!]).

An EXOCENTRIC compound, on the other hand, denotes something that does not correspond directly to either of the constituent elements, e.g. thumbnail, not a type of nail, but a type of digital picture.