(singular). mātā-pitarau "mother and father" Samāhāra dvandva The second, rarer kind is called samāhāra dvandva and is a collective compound word, the meaning of which refers to the collection of its constituent members. The resultant compound word is in the singular number and is always neuter in gender. Examples: pāṇipādam 'limbs', literally 'hands and feet', from pāṇi 'hand' and pāda 'foot' Compare Modern Greek ανδρόγυνο "husband and wife" or μαχαιροπίρουνο "cutlery" (literally "knife-forks"), similarly always in the neuter singular (plural marking would refer to several couples or cutlery sets). Ekaśeṣa dvandva According to some grammarians, there is a third kind called ekaśeṣa dvandva "residual compound". It is formed like an itaretara, but the first constituent is omitted. The remaining final constituent still takes the dual (or plural) number. According to other grammarians, however, the ekaśeṣa is not properly a compound at all. An example: pitarau 'parents', from mātā 'mother' + pitā 'father' References Linguistic morphology Sanskrit grammar