• tatterdemalion@programming.dev
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    14 days ago

    I suspect every language does this to some extent. Some good examples from Japanese:

    靴 = shoes 下 = under 靴下 = socks

    手 = hand 紙 = paper 手紙 = letter

    歯 = teeth 車 = wheel 歯車 = cog / gear

    火 = fire 山 = mountain 火山 = volcano

    Sadly (?) the Japanese compounds are often only compounds of the symbols, not the spoken words.