hour-long

The compound adjective 'hour-long' is a transparent modern English formation, combining two native elements with clear, retained meanings. The first element, 'hour', traces back to the Greek 'hōra', which originally denoted a season or a fixed period of time, a concept refined through Latin into the specific sixty-minute division of the day. The second element, 'long', descends from the Proto-Germanic 'langaz', carrying the enduring sense of extended duration. The logical construction is purely descriptive, directly stating the duration ('long') measured in terms of the unit ('hour'), with no semantic shift from the constituent parts. This pattern is productive in English, creating precise temporal descriptors like 'day-long' or 'week-long'.

Structure: hour (unit of time) + long (extended duration) - hour: From Old English 'ōra', ultimately from Greek 'hōra' via Latin 'hōra', meaning a period of time, season. Functions as the noun base specifying the unit of measurement. - long: From Old English 'lang, long', of Germanic origin, meaning having a great extent in duration. Functions as an adjective describing the extent.