baby-food

The compound 'baby-food' is a transparent modern English formation. Its first element, 'baby', originates from Middle English 'babi', an imitative or affectionate term for an infant. The second element, 'food', has deep Germanic roots, descending from Old English 'fōda', meaning nourishment or that which is eaten, itself from the Proto-Germanic fōdô. The compound logically and literally denotes "food for a baby," a concept that became commercially significant in the 20th century with the industrialization of infant nutrition. The term's logic is entirely compositional, directly combining the familiar concepts of a very young child and edible sustenance to specify a particular category of processed nourishment.

Structure: baby (infant) + food (nourishment) baby: Middle English, likely imitative of infant speech. Functional role: Noun modifier specifying the intended consumer. food: Old English 'fōda', from Proto-Germanic fōdô. Functional role: Head noun indicating the substance for eating.