Relationship between single elements

The meanings of many compound nouns can be easily deduced from the meanings of their individual elements.
In other compound nouns, however, the relationship between root word and modifying element(s) is less clear.

In such cases, resort to the context. Other compound nouns have strayed even further from the meanings of their individual components. These compounds are said to have been "lexicalized."

For the moment, don't worry about these compounds.
You can usually find them in a dictionary if the context doesn't reveal their meanings.

Look at the following words: