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Exocentric Compound

MORPHOLOGY: a term used to refer to a particular type of compound, viz. compounds that lack a head. Often these compounds refer to pejorative properties of human beings. A Dutch compound such as wijsneus 'wise guy' (LIT. 'wise-nose') (in normal usage) does not refer to a nose that is wise. In fact, it does not even refer to a nose, but to a human being with a particular property. An alternative term used for compounds such as wijsneus is bahuvrihi compound.
LIT. Kiparsky, P. (1982)
Spencer, A. (1991)