# Is there a word for this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227 "2004-11-11T17:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/1 "2004-11-11T17:17:49Z")
Words that break down into other valid words, even if the other valid words are not associated with the original word. For instance banana -\> ban an a, legend -\> leg end, broadsword -\> broads word ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/2 "2004-11-11T19:08:02Z")
Unless the word breaks down into elements that are relevant to the whole, which would make it a compound word, linguists wouldn’t bother with this. Your examples are just accidents of spelling. On the other hand, if you broke _broadsword_ down as _broad_ + _sword_, then you do have a compound word, and this would be a valid example to discuss if you were comparing the ways different languages handle compound concepts. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/3 "2004-11-11T19:32:13Z")
I was hoping there was something more general than compound word, not for a linguist purposes, but for use in questions/crosswords etc. Eg a crossword clue like famous toe or hip (6 letter) -\> legend ---
**Author:** ![Omphaloskeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/4 "2004-11-11T21:13:31Z")
In cryptic crosswords, that type of clue is sometimes called a [charade](http://www.execulink.com/~tagies/cryptics/solvingguide/solvingguide.html) (after the game Charades). I haven’t heard the words themselves described as “charades,” though. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/5 "2004-11-11T22:56:03Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > I was hoping there was something more general than compound word, not for a linguist purposes, but for use in questions/crosswords etc. > Eg a crossword clue like famous toe or hip (6 letter) -\> legend The clue like this normally contains a question mark at the end, indicating a pun. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/6 "2004-11-11T23:04:14Z")
Aren’t these just a specific type of anagram? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/7 "2004-11-12T02:06:45Z")
Sounds like a perfect excuse to invent a word. Call them wordagrams. ---
**Author:** ![adirondack\_mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@adirondack\_mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adirondack_mike)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/8 "2004-11-12T03:05:19Z")
In Martin Gardner’s book [Aha! Insight](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/071671017X/qid=1100229119/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-5946342-0576019?v=glance&s=books), there is a chapter with words like you are talking about. I no longer have the book in my possession so I cannot check what he called them but I am pretty sure he called them something. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/9 "2004-11-12T03:42:52Z")
> [@adirondack\_mike](#): > > In Martin Gardner’s book [Aha! Insight](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/071671017X/qid=1100229119/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/002-5946342-0576019?v=glance&s=books), there is a chapter with words like you are talking about. I no longer have the book in my possession so I cannot check what he called them but I am pretty sure he called them something. Nope, nothing in Gardner’s book. There is a chapter on Word aha!, but nothing about a name for words as described by the OP. There is a discussion about the importance of an empty space to understanding a sentence or phrase (such as carson city vs. cars on city). He does refer to words that can be found within other words or phrases as “hidden words”, but that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![adirondack\_mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@adirondack\_mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adirondack_mike)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/10 "2004-11-12T03:52:42Z")
> [@nivlac](#): > > Nope, nothing in Gardner’s book. There is a chapter on Word aha!, but nothing about a name for words as described by the OP. There is a discussion about the importance of an empty space to understanding a sentence or phrase (such as carson city vs. cars on city). He does refer to words that can be found within other words or phrases as “hidden words”, but that’s it. The chapter I was thinking about had a character called “Nosmo King.” I am pretty sure I had the right book but I could be wrong. It has been a while. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/11 "2004-11-12T03:54:07Z")
Nothing to add except a few more examples: together-\>to get her tomorrow-\> tom or row mangetout-\>man get out ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/12 "2004-11-12T16:49:15Z")
no 🙂 mangetout -\> mange tout , he sells old skin diseases in a market in Putney. I wonder if there are any normal words with rude subdivisioning. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-this/274227/13 "2004-11-12T21:58:05Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > no 🙂 mangetout -\> mange tout , he sells old skin diseases in a market in Putney. > I wonder if there are any normal words with rude subdivisioning. _Subdivisioning_ is not a normal word. It’s a word you coined. The normal word is _subdividing_. 🙂