Compound adjectives

Compound adjectives with participles

The table below shows how compound adjectives are built in English.

Types	Examples
past participles	a a candle-lit table a horse-drawn cart a self-employed web designer a tree-lined avenue
present participles	a long-playing record a long-suffering patient a time-consuming job
-ed words	cross-eyed flat-chested open-minded slow-footed quick-witted

Compound adjectives of measurement

The table below shows compound adjectives built with cardinal and ordinal numbers.

Types	Examples
Age	a four-year-old building an eighteen-year-old girl
Area/volume	a four-acre plot a two-litre car
Duration	a three-hour meeting a two-hour film
Length/depth	a twelve-inch ruler a five-foot hole
Price	a $40 jacket a $100,000 house
Time/distance	a ten-minute walk a four-hour journey
Weight	a ten-stone wrestler a five-kilo bag of flour
Ordinal numbers	a first-rate film a second-hand car a third-floor apartment a eighteen-century novel

Compound adjectives with prefixes and suffixes

The table below shows how compound adjectives are built with prefixes and suffixes in English.

Types	Examples
Prefixes/suffixes	fashion-conscious health-conscious tax-free loose-fitting waterproof fire-resistant car-sick tight-lipped airtight
with well / badly	well-behaved well-built well-done well-paid
with ill / poorly	poorly-educated poorly-paid ill-advised ill-bred ill-fitting ill-informed ill-mannered