Classical compounds (also known as
neoclassical compounds, and
combining forms) are
compound words composed from
Latin or
Ancient Greek root words. A large portion of the
technical and
scientific lexicon of
English and other
Western European languages, such as
international scientific vocabulary, consists of classical compounds. For example,
bio- combines with
-graphy to form
biography. A vowel usually facilitates the combination: in
biography, the Greek
thematic vowel -
o-, in
miniskirt, the Latin thematic -
i-. This vowel is usually regarded as attached to the initial base (
bio-,
mini-) rather than the final base (
-graphy,
-skirt), but in Greek-derived forms it is sometimes shown as attached to the final base (
-ography,
-ology). If, however, the final base begins with a vowel (for example,
-archy as in
monarchy), the mediating vowel has traditionally been avoided (no *
monoarchy), but in recent coinages it is often kept and generally accompanied by a hyphen (
auto-analysis,
bio-energy,
hydro-electricity, not *
autanalysis, *
bienergy, *
hydrelectricity).