A Sanskrit compound is more than two words pushed together. Follow a worked example to see what each member contributes, where the head is and how the compact form opens into an analytic phrase.
a blue lotus
नीलnīla
blue
उत्पलutpala
lotus
Second member is the head
Both members refer to the same thing. Nīla qualifies utpala, and the compound as a whole names a lotus.
Analytic paraphrase
nīlaṁ ca tad utpalaṁ ca
In English
a lotus that is blue
Note: Vowel sandhi changes nīla + utpala to nīlotpala.
The head is the part that the whole compound is fundamentally naming. Finding it separates the four broad structures.
The first member depends on or qualifies the second. This covers tatpuruṣa and its classroom subtypes.
The first member governs the second and the whole expression becomes indeclinable, as in avyayībhāva.
The members are coordinated as equals. The analytic paraphrase supplies “and,” as in dvandva.
Neither member names the referent. Together they describe an external person or thing, as in bahuvrīhi.
Why there is no free-form classifier
The same visible members can admit different analyses when their meaning or context changes. This tool therefore presents checked examples and never labels an arbitrary word from spelling alone.
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