combining Definition

to bring into such close relationship as to obscure individual characters : merge

to cause to unite into a chemical compound

to unite into a single number or expression

to harvest with a combine

to combine a crop

a linguistic form that occurs only in compounds or derivatives and can be distinguished descriptively from an affix by its ability to occur as one immediate constituent of a form whose only other immediate constituent is an affix (such as cephal- in cephalic) or by its being derived from an independent word (such as electro- representing electric in electromagnet or para- representing parachute in paratrooper) or can be distinguished historically from an affix by the fact that it is borrowed from another language in which it is descriptively a word or a combining form (such as French mal giving English mal- in malodorous)