Noun compounds

Compounds that function as nouns are by far the most common, and account for 90 percent of all compounds. In this category, the most common formulation is ‘noun + noun’ (e.g. phónecard, mátchbox, téapot, póstman). Other noun compounds may have one of the following combinations:

All noun compounds receive the stress on their first element. Exceptions to this rule almost always involve names (e.g. Lake Érie, Mount Sínai, Great Brítain).