The compound noun 'turnover' is a transparent combination of the verb 'turn' and the adverb 'over'. Its core logic is the concept of something being turned over or reversed, which metaphorically extended into several distinct commercial and culinary domains. In business, it originally referred to the 'turning over' of capital or goods in a cycle of sale and replacement, leading to its primary modern meaning of total sales revenue. The employee sense similarly reflects the cyclical process of staff leaving and being replaced. The culinary sense is the most literal, describing a pastry where the dough is 'turned over' to enclose a filling.

Structure: turn + over - turn: From Old English turnian, tyrnan (to turn, rotate), from Latin tornare (to turn on a lathe). Functional role: Verb root indicating a change in position or state. - over: From Old English ofer (above, across, beyond). Functional role: Adverb/prefix indicating reversal, completion, or movement across.