714
7 years ago there were no billionaires worth more than $100 billion - today there are 18!
(sh.itjust.works)
Billionaires 7 years ago:
https://web.archive.org/web/20171004002738/https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/
Billionaires today:
I think it's because it's describing the noun.
It's not describing the noun, it's part of the noun.
Quick analogy in German:
space billionaire = Weltraummilliärdär
spacefaring billionaire = weltraumreisender Milliärdär
In German, adjective + noun cannot be written together to form a new noun. To form one, only noun + noun can be used. And English is close enough to Germanic languages for that rule to remain the same, I think.
You are correct. In English, when a noun is used to modify another noun (as an adjective does), it's referred to as a noun adjunct, attributive noun, or, more rarely, an adjectival noun (the last almost exclusively refers to a similar usage in Japanese). While it serves the purpose of an adjective, it's still technically a noun.
Examples are chicken soup, toy store, race car, and boat lane.
To be clear it's not about "spacefaring" billionaires but about "spacing" billionaires aka dumping them out an airlock into space as seen in various "The Expanse" scenes.
That's for the second one though, for the [verb] [noun] combination. The "[adjective]" [noun] combination implies spacefaring or similar, doesn't it?
You've convinced me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_(linguistics)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/spelling-using-compound-words-guide
Corrected
Yes, correct.