Spelling of Compound Nouns

INFO

Compound nouns in which the two parts are connected with a joining vowel and where the first part depends on the second are written as one word.

EXAMPLE

дърводобив, водохранилище, газообмен, въжеиграч, книгопечатница, нефтозавод, ценообразуване, първокласник, второкурсник,

INFO

Compound nouns whose first part is a verb in imperative form are written as one word.

EXAMPLE

прескочикобила, препъникамък, лапнишаран, кърпикожух, развейпрах, ритнитопковец

INFO

Compound nouns which are derived from the personal names of literary characters and are used to liken someone to said character are written as one word without capitalisation.

EXAMPLE

донжуан, донкихот, байганьо, байганьовци

INFO

Compound nouns which have at least one constituent with foreign origin are written as one word.

EXAMPLE

туроператор, блекджек, плейбек, уебстраница, хотдог, джакпот

NOTE

If both parts of the noun are also used as independent words, then the two parts may be written separately.

EXAMPLE

еврокредит / евро кредит, джазконцерт / джаз концерт, финтесзала / фитнес зала, офисцентър / офис център, скисъстезание / ски състезание

INFO

Compound nouns whose first part is an abbreviation of an adjective (usually with foreign origin) are written as one word.

EXAMPLE

европоход, виброизолация, профсъюз, термоизолация, телереклама

NOTE

If the first part can also be used independently as a word, then the parts may be written separately.

EXAMPLE

фолкпевица / фолк певица, попизпълнителн / поп изпълнител, видеоклип, видео клип

INFO

Nouns formed via transcription of the pronunciation of foreign abbreviations are written as one word without capitalisation.

EXAMPLE

джиесем, джипи, есемес, пиар, сиви, дивиди

INFO

If in a compound noun the second part takes on inflection endings, then the two parts are separated by a dash.

EXAMPLE

кандидат-студент (кандидат-студентът), министър-председател (министър-председателят) храм-паметник (храм-паметникът), вагон-ресторант (вагон-ресторантът), съдия-изпълнителн (съдия-изпълнителят)

NOTE

The same rule applies even if the first part is abbreviated.

EXAMPLE

ас.-режисьор, зам.-директор, пом.-командир

INFO

Idiomatic expressions formed via the comparison of two nouns are written with a dash.

EXAMPLE

гайтан-вежди, ден-година, жар-птица, очи-череши, снага-топола

INFO

Compound nouns comprised of “лъже” / “псевдо” and a personal name are written with a dash and both parts are capitalised.

EXAMPLE

Лъже-Димитър, Лъже-Нерон, Псевдо-Паскалев

INFO

Compound nouns whose first part is the name of a letter or the letter itself are written with a dash.

EXAMPLE

алфа-разпад, α-разпад, гама-лъчение, γ-лъчи

INFO

If the first part of a compound noun is a number written with digits, then it is separated from the rest via a dash.

EXAMPLE

65-годишнина

If the first part of a compound noun is a single-word number written out with letters, then the whole compound is written as one word.

EXAMPLE

седемдесетгодишнина

If the first part of a compound noun is a multiple-word number written out with letters, then the number is written out separately from the rest.

EXAMPLE

двадесет и пет годишнина

INFO

EXAMPLE

65-годишнина

INFO

Compound nouns consisting of two personal or geographical names are written with a dash.

EXAMPLE

Жан-Жак Русо, Иван-Александър, Австро-Унгария, Елзас-Лотарингия, Карл-Хайц Румениге

NOTE

The same rule applies even for personal names which are abbreviated.

EXAMPLE

Ж.-Ж. Русо, К.-Х. Румениге

Exceptions

Будапеща, Индокитай, Чехословакия

INFO

Compound nouns derived from compound adjectives written with a dash are also written with a dash. The inverse, however, is not necessarily true.

EXAMPLE

телеграфо-пощенец (from телеграфо-пощенски), стоково-паричност (from стоково-паричен).

INFO

The parts of a compound in which the first constituent takes on inflection endings are written separately.

EXAMPLE

съчинение разсъждение (съчинението разсъждение), мач реванш (мачът реванш), поет модернист (поети модернисти), майстор зидар (майстори зидари)

INFO

The parts of a compound noun in which the first constituent is a foreign word are written separately.

EXAMPLE

бизнес център, допинг проба, екшън герой, офис техника, рок музикант, ски състезание, тенис турнир, фитнес зала, фолк певица

Exception

If the first part cannot be used as an independent word, then the parts written as one word.

EXAMPLE

геополитика, демоверсия, екосистема, компактдиск, наркокартел, термоизолация, хидросистема

INFO

The parts of a compound whose first part serves as an adjective and is an abbreviation are written separately.

EXAMPLE

SIM карта, VIP гости, PVC дограма, жп линия, тв програма, ДНК проба, HIV вирус, GSM оператор

INFO

Sequences of transcribed letters from other languages which are used as names are written separately and each part is capitalised.

EXAMPLE

Ай Би Ем, Си Ен Ен, Би Би Си, О Ем Ви