Comment on 7 years ago there were no billionaires worth more than $100 billion - today there are 18!

• yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It’s not describing the noun, it’s part of the noun.

  Quick analogy in German:

  space billionaire = Weltraummilliärdär

  spacefaring billionaire = weltraumreisender Milliärdär

  In German, adjective + noun cannot be written together to form a new noun. To form one, only noun + noun can be used. And English is close enough to Germanic languages for that rule to remain the same, I think.

  source

  • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    You are correct. In English, when a noun is used to modify another noun (as an adjective does), it’s referred to as a noun adjunct, attributive noun, or, more rarely, an adjective noun. While it serves the purpose of an adjective, it’s still technically a noun.

    Examples are chicken soup, toy store, race car, boat lane, etc.

    source
  • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    To be clear it’s not about “spacefaring” billionaires but about “spacing” billionaires aka dumping them out an airlock into space as seen in various “The Expanse” scenes.

    source

    • yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      That’s for the second one though, for the [verb] [noun] combination. The “[adjective]” [noun] combination implies spacefaring or similar, doesn’t it?

      source

      • Rubisco@slrpnk.net ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        You’ve convinced me.

        en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_(linguistics)

        merriam-webster.com/…/spelling-using-compound-wor…

        Image

        Corrected

        source
      • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Yes, correct.

        source