Question: is nearby a compound word?
Answer: NOTE: The word "nearby" could probably be seen as being a type of compound preposition, where it's seen as being related to a combination of the two prepositions "near" and "by". This is similar to some other prepositions, such as: "onto" with "on" and "to", "into" with "in" and "to", "upon" with "up" and "on".