I know that Japanese allows this: there are words in reverse order where the placement of 2 kanji can be “flipped” within the same word while retaining a related definition, i.e. 栄光 (glory) & 光栄 (honor), more examples range from:

  • 別離 (parting) & 離別 (separation)
  • 関連 (connection) & 連関 (relation)
  • 礼儀 (manners) & 儀礼 (ettiquette)
  • 陸上 (landing) & 上陸 (ground)
  • 発散 (emission) & 散発 (sporadic)
  • 進行 (advance) & 行進 (parade)
  • 議会 (assembly) & 会議 (meeting)
  • 木材 (lumber) & 材木 (timber)
  • 王国 (kingdom) & 国王 (monarch)
  • 火花 (spark) & 花火 (fireworks)
  • 明言 (statement) & 言明 (assertion)
  • 論評 (criticism) & 評論 (critique)

You get the picture, but can you do the same thing with the English language for example? As well as other European languages in general?

  • untorquer@quokk.au
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    8 hours ago

    All your examples are changing gramatically between noun and verb.

    Germanic languages tend to use the second word in a compound as the noun and the first as a modifier.

    Blue ocean is an ocean that is colored blue where ocean blue is a shade of blue.

    Conversely snowshoe is a shoe meant for use on snow. Shoesnow is nonesense rather than snow stuck to your shoe.

    • igmelonh@feddit.online
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      7 hours ago

      fwiw “takeover” is a noun; “take over” would be the verb.

      “Lookout” would also be a noun, though their example of “look out” is a verb, yes.