§ 169. According to their morphological composition nouns can be divided into simple, derived, and compound.
Simple nouns consist of only one root-morpheme: dog, chair, room, roof, leaf.
Derived nouns (derivatives) are composed of one root-morpheme and one or more derivational morphemes (prefixes or suffixes).
The main noun-forming suffixes are those forming abstract nouns and those forming concrete, personal nouns.
| Abstract nouns | Concrete nouns |
| -age: leakage, vicarage -al: betrayal, portrayal, refusal -ancy/-ency: vacancy, tendency -dom:freedom kingdom -hood: brotherhood, childhood -ing: meaning, cleaning -ion/~sion/-tion/-ation: operation, tension, examination -ism: darvinism, patriotism -ment: agreement, unemployment -ness: darkness, weakness -ship: friendship, membership -ty: cruelty, sanity, banality -th: growth, strength -y: difficulty, honesty | -(i)an: physician, Parisian, republican -ant/-ent: assistant, student, informant -arian: vegetarian -ее: refugee, employee, payee -er: teacher, worker, singer -ician: musician, politician -ist: socialist, artist -or: visitor, actor -let: booklet, leaflet -ess: actress, tigress, waitress -ine: heroine -ix: proprietrix -ette: usherette The four suffixes -ess, -ine, -ette are feminine. |
Sometimes nouns formed by abstract noun suffixes may come to denote concrete things or persons as in translation (a process and its result), beauty (may denote an abstract notion and a beautiful woman).
Compound nouns consist of at least two stems. The meaning of a compound is not a mere sum of its elements. The main types of compound nouns are:
| noun stem + noun stem: | seaman (моряк), airmail (авиапочта) | |
| adjective stem + noun stem: | bluebell (колокольчик), blackbird (черный дрозд) | |
| verb stem + noun stem: | pickpocket (карманный вор) | |
| gerund + noun stem: | looking-glass (зеркало), dancing-hall (танцевальный зал) | |
| noun stem + prepositions + noun stem: | father-in-law (свекр, тесть) mother-in-law (свекровь, теща) man-of-war (военный корабль) | |
| substantivised phrases: | forget-me-not (незабудка), pick-me-up (тонизирующий напиток) | |
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