ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Sanskrit compound

A Sanskrit compound is like a super word, made by sticking together two or more smaller words to create a big, powerful word that has a very specific meaning. It's like taking the words "fish" and "bowl" and sticking them together to make "fishbowl", which means a special kind of bowl that you keep fish in.

In Sanskrit, it works the same way. Let's say you want to talk about a special kind of tree that has red flowers. Instead of saying "red flower tree" or "tree with red flowers", you can put the words together to make a compound word: "raktapushpakavriksha". This one word means "tree with red flowers". It's really handy because you don't have to say multiple words to explain what you mean.

But it's not just about making things shorter - the compound word can often be much more descriptive and accurate than the individual words. For example, the word "gurukulam" is a compound word made from "guru" (teacher) and "kulam" (family or community). Together, they form a word that means a school where students live with their teacher and learn in a community setting.

So, Sanskrit compound words are like building blocks that can create precise, unique, and detailed words that can explain things in a much better way than individual words.