smokehouse
UK[ˈsməʊkhaʊs]US[ˈsmoʊkhaʊs]
n
a building or room where meat or fish is cured by exposure to smoke.
Morpheme Breakdown
smoke
house
smoke
to produce smoke
house
building
Etymology
the word 'smokehouse' is a transparent compound formed from two old english roots. 'smoke' originates from proto-germanic smuk-, related to the act of emitting smoke or vapor, which itself can be traced to the pie root smeug- (to smoke, to smolder). 'house' derives from proto-germanic hūsą, from pie (s)kew- (to cover, to hide). the compound logically describes a specialized building ('house') dedicated to the process of curing food with smoke. this functional naming convention is characteristic of english, where two elemental nouns combine to precisely denote a place defined by its primary activity.
Analysis
Structure: smoke (to produce smoke) + house (building)
smoke (old english 'smoca', meaning smoke or fume; functional role: attributive noun describing the process). house (old english 'hūs', meaning dwelling, shelter; functional role: head noun denoting a structure).
Examples
the farmer took the hams to the smokehouse to cure them for the winter.
traditional smokehouses use slow-burning hardwoods to impart flavor.
we toured an old fisheries village and saw the historic smokehouse.