Compound may refer to:

Architecture and built environments

* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive structures * Compound (migrant labour), a hostel for migrant workers such as those historically connected with mines in South Africa * The Compound, an area of Palm Bay, Florida, US * Komboni or compound, a type of slum in Zambia

Government and law

Composition (fine) Compounding is a legal procedure whereby a criminal or delinquent avoids prosecution in a court of law, potentially leading to the confiscation of his estate or some other punishment, in exchange for his payment to the authorities of a financial pe ...

, a legal procedure in use after the English Civil War ** Committee for Compounding with Delinquents, an English Civil War institution that allowed Parliament to compound the estates of Royalists * Compounding treason, an offence under the common law of England * Compounding a felony, a previous offense under the common law of England

Linguistics

Compound (linguistics) In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word or Sign language, sign) that consists of more than one Word stem, stem. Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. C ...

, a word that consists of more than one radical element * Compound sentence (linguistics), a type of sentence made up of two or more independent clauses and no subordinate (dependent) clauses

Science, technology, and mathematics

Biology and medicine

* Compounding, the mixing of drugs in pharmacy * Compound fracture, a complete fractures of bone where at least one fragment has damaged the skin, soft tissue or surrounding body cavity *

Compound leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, f ...

, a type of leaf being divided into smaller leaflets

Chemistry and materials science

Chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

, combination of two or more elements * Plastic compounding, a method of preparing plastic formulations

Vehicles and engines

* Compound engine, a steam engine in which steam is expanded through a series of two or three cylinders before exhaust * Turbo-compound engine, an internal combustion engine where exhaust gases expand through power-turbines * Compounding pressure, a method in which pressure in a steam turbine is made to drop in a number of stages

Other uses in science, technology, and mathematics

* Compound bow, a type of bow for archery * Polyhedral compound, a polyhedron composed of multiple polyhedra sharing the same centre

Other uses

Common names

Compound (music) In music, metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling) refers to regularly recurring patterns and accents such as bar (music), bars and Beat (music), beats. Unlike rhythm (music), rhythm, metric onsets are not necessarily sounded, but ar ...

, an attribute of a time signature *

Compound interest Compound interest is interest accumulated from a principal sum and previously accumulated interest. It is the result of reinvesting or retaining interest that would otherwise be paid out, or of the accumulation of debts from a borrower. Compo ...

, in finance, unpaid interest that is added to the principal * Compound chocolate, an inexpensive chocolate substitute that uses cocoa but excludes cocoa butter

Proper names

* ''The Compound'' (book), a 2008 young adult novel by S. A. Bodeen * Compound (company), a venture capital firm previously known as Metamorphic Ventures * Eisenhuth Horseless Vehicle Company, or Compound, a former US automobile manufacturer