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A bahuvrihí (?????????), or bahuvrihi compound (also exocentric compound), is a type of nominal compound
Compound (linguistics)

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one Word stem. Compounding or composition is the word-formation that creates compound lexemes ....
 that refers to something that is not specified by any of its parts by themselves (i.e., it is headless
Head (linguistics)

In linguistics, the head is the word that determines the syntax type of the phrase of which it is a member, or analogously the word stem that determines the semantic category of a compound of which it is a component....
 or exocentric
Exocentric

Exocentric has a number of meanings.In linguistics, it refers to phrases and compound Word s which are not the same part of speech as their constituents....
, its core semantic value being subsumed by an elliptical or 'external' semantic value so that the compound is not a hyponym of the head), especially a compound that refers to a possessor of an object specified: a bahuvrihi compound XY tends to mean someone or something which has a Y, and that Y has the characteristic X.






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A bahuvrihí (?????????), or bahuvrihi compound (also exocentric compound), is a type of nominal compound
Compound (linguistics)

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one Word stem. Compounding or composition is the word-formation that creates compound lexemes ....
 that refers to something that is not specified by any of its parts by themselves (i.e., it is headless
Head (linguistics)

In linguistics, the head is the word that determines the syntax type of the phrase of which it is a member, or analogously the word stem that determines the semantic category of a compound of which it is a component....
 or exocentric
Exocentric

Exocentric has a number of meanings.In linguistics, it refers to phrases and compound Word s which are not the same part of speech as their constituents....
, its core semantic value being subsumed by an elliptical or 'external' semantic value so that the compound is not a hyponym of the head), especially a compound that refers to a possessor of an object specified: a bahuvrihi compound XY tends to mean someone or something which has a Y, and that Y has the characteristic X. For instance, a sabertooth (smil-odon
Smilodon

Smilodon , sometimes called sabre-toothed cat, is an extinction genus of large Machairodontinae saber-toothed cats that lived between approximately 2.5 million to 10,000 years ago in North America and South America....
) is neither a saber nor a tooth
Tooth

Teeth are small whitish structures found in the jaws of many vertebrates that are used to tear, scrape, and chew food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or defense....
: it is an extinct feline with saber-like fangs. English bahuvrihis often describe people using synecdoche
Synecdoche

Synecdoche is a figure of speech in which:* a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing , or* a term denoting a thing is used to refer to part of it , or...
: flatfoot, half-wit, highbrow, lowlife, redhead, tenderfoot, longlegs, and white-collar. Many of these are colloquial, pejorative
Pejorative

Words and phrases are pejorative if they imply disapproval or contempt. When used as an adjective, pejorative is synonymous with derogatory, derisive, dyslogistic, and contemptuous....
, or both.

The term bahuvrihi was first used by Sanskrit grammarians, and is a specific Sanskrit
Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
 example: a compound consisting of bahu (much) and vrihi (rice); the compound connotes a rich man, one who has "much rice".

The last constituent in a Sanskrit bahuvrihi is a noun, more strictly: a nominal stem. The whole compound is an adjective and agrees in gender and number with the head. The accent
Vedic accent

The pitch accent of Vedic Sanskrit, or Vedic accent for brevity, is traditionally divided by Sanskrit grammarians into three qualities, udatta "raised" , anudatta "not raised" and svarita "sounded" ....
 is regularly on the first member (tatpurusha raja-pútra "a king's son", but bahuvrihi rajá-putra "having kings as sons" (viz rajá-putra- (m.) "father of kings", rajá-putra- (f.) "mother of kings"), with the exception of a number of non-nominal prefixes such as the privative a
Privative a

The privative a is the Prefix a- which expresses negation or absence . Originally described for the grammar of Ancient Greek, it goes back to a Proto-Indo-European language syllabic nasal *, the zero Indo-European ablaut grade of the negation *ne, i.e....
; the word "bahuvrihí" is itself likewise an exception to this rule.

See also

  • Sanskrit compounds
    Sanskrit compounds

    One notable feature of the nominal system of Sanskrit is the very common use of nominal compounds , which may be huge as in some modern languages such as German language....
  • Tatpurusha
  • Dvigu
    Dvigu

    A Dvigu is a type of compound in Sanskrit grammar. Its first constituent is a numeral. It is named after an example of the type:-*dvi-gu = "two-cow" = "two cows"....
  • Dvandva
    Dvandva

    A dvandva or copulative or coordinative compound refers to two or more objects that could be connected in sense by the conjunction 'and'. Dvandvas are common in some languages such as Sanskrit, where the term originates, as well as Chinese and Japanese, but less common in English ....
  • Compound (linguistics)
    Compound (linguistics)

    In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one Word stem. Compounding or composition is the word-formation that creates compound lexemes ....