 Compound words in English, around the house, from espressoenglish.net What are compound words? Compound words are made of two words together, forming a new word with a new meaning. Often, the meaning of the compound word is related to the two words that form it. For example, a bathroom is a room where you can take a bath. A mailbox is a box in which you receive mail. And a toothbrush is a brush that you use on your teeth. Today, you can improve your English vocabulary and practice your pronunciation with these compound words around the house. Bookcase Bookshelf Dishwasher Doorbell The action of making the doorbell sound is called ringing the doorbell. Door knob The K in door knob is silent. Door mat If you describe a person as a door mat, it means the person is very passive and lets other people control or manipulate them. Driveway The driveway connects the street to the garage. Fireplace Above the fireplace is the chimney. That's the channel through which smoke from the fire goes up and then leaves the house. Hallway This can be called hall or hallway. Housework Housework includes the tasks you do to take care of your home, like cleaning and doing laundry. Don't get housework confused with homework. Homework is academic work that you do at home. A married woman who doesn't have a job outside the house and stays home and takes care of the house and children, if any, is called a housewife. And a person who you pay to do your housework is called a housekeeper or maid. Pillow case A pillow case is a covering for your pillow. Potholder Use potholders in the kitchen to protect your hands when you need to touch a pot that is hot. Tablecloth A tablecloth provides protection and decoration for a table. In this picture you can also see two white placemats on top of the table. Wallpaper This man is putting up wallpaper to decorate the room. Want to learn more vocabulary words? Check out the Vocabulary Builder course available at espressoenglish.net. It will help you increase your vocabulary so that you can express yourself more fluently in English.