Two or more nouns — much less often adjectives, and, in an instance or two, adverbs — having a coördinate construction, as if connected by a conjunction, usually and, are sometimes combined into compounds.

a. This is the class to which the Hindu grammarians give the name of dvandva pair, couple; a dvandva of adjectives, however, is not recognized by them.

b. Compounds in which the relation of the two members is alternative instead of copulative, though only exceptional, are not very rare: examples are nyūnādhika defective or redundant,jayaparājaya victory or defeat, krītotpanna purchased or on hand, kāṣṭhaloṣṭasama like a log or clod, pakṣimṛgatā the condition of being bird or beast, triṅçadviṅçanumbering twenty or thirty, catuṣpan̄cakṛtvas four or five times, dvyekāntara different by one or two. A less marked modification of the copulative idea is seen in such instances aspriyasatya agreeable though true, prārthitadurlabha sought after but hard to obtain; or in çrāntāgata arrived weary.