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Nouns
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New Dutch nouns can be formed by means of prefixation and suffixation, and also by compounding. In addition, nouns may result from borrowing and univerbation.

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New Dutch nouns can be formed by a number of derivational processes:

  • suffixation, e.g. the noun roodheid redness is derived from the adjective rood by means of the suffix -heid. An important subclass of nominal suffixation is diminutive formation, as in vogeltje small bird < vogel bird.
  • prefixation, e.g. the noun gelach laughing is derived from the verb lachen to laugh (or rather from the verbal stem laugh) by means of the prefix ge-.
  • Occasionally, one finds circumfixation, e.g. the collective noun geboomte trees is derived by means of the circumfix ge...te.
  • conversion: the noun gek fool is related to the adjective gek crazy but the difference in word class does not correspond to a difference in form.
Other processes may introduce new nouns into the language as well, e.g.
  • borrowing: computer computer is a recent loan from English, wijn wine is a much older loan from Latin (vinumwine)
  • univerbation: e.g. the noun wittebrood white bread can be traced back to a combination of the (inflected) adjective wit white and the noun brood bread.
  • compounding: the noun stadhuis city hall is the result of the combination of two nouns, stad city and huis house.
  • Many nouns, especially from learned parts of the vocabulary, are either borrowed or the product of neoclassical word formation: bioscoop cinema consists of two parts bio(s) and scoop of Latin or Greek origin that do not occur as independent words.

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