Japanese nouns can be combined to create new nouns. When combining nouns, the first kana in the second noun should be in だくてん (dakuten) form if one is available.1

Example: Pocket-watch

かいけゅうどけい

Info

かいけゅう refers to the inside of ones pocket.

どけい is とけい (clock) with the first kana in だくてん form. Together these nouns make β€œpocket-watch” (or more exactly, β€œpocket-clock”).

Footnotes

  1. Japanese from Scratch (12) ↩