Word formation.
Borrowing.
As Bill Bryson observed in the quotation
presented earlier, one of the most common
sources of new words in English is the process
simply labeled borrowing, that is, the taking
over of words from other languages.
(Technically, it’s more than just borrowing
because English doesn’t give them back.)
Throughout its history, the English language
has adopted a vast number of words from
other languages, including croissant (French),
dope (Dutch), lilac (Persian), piano (Italian),
pretzel (German), sofa (Arabic), tattoo
(Tahitian),
tycoon
(Japanese),
yogurt
(Turkish) and zebra (Bantu).
Compounding.
In some of the examples we have just
considered, there is a joining of two separate
words to produce a single form. Thus, Lehn
and Wort are combined to produce Lehnwort
in German. This combining process,
technically known as compounding, is very
common in languages such as German and
English, but much less common in languages
such as French and Spanish.
Common English compounds are bookcase,
doorknob, fingerprint, sunburn, textbook,
wallpaper, wastebasket and waterbed. All
these examples are nouns, but we can also
create compound adjectives (good-looking,
low-paid) and compounds of adjective (fast)
plus noun (food) as in a fast-food restaurant or
a full-time job.