Have you ever accidentally made up a word by merging two words together? While what you said might not be in the dictionary, there is such a thing as two distinctly different words blending together to create a new term. It is called a portmanteau.
The term itself is a combination of the French words porter (to carry) and manteau (cloak), which describes a suitcase with two sections inside. Author Lewis Carroll redefined the term after using word combinations in his book Through the Looking Glass: “You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.â€
Here are some popular examples.
- Smog = smoke + fog
- Brunch = breakfast + lunch
- Newscast = news + broadcast
- E-commerce = electronic + commerce
- Email = electronic + mail
- Ginormous = gigantic + enormous
- Hi-tech = high + technology
- Internet = international + network
- Modem = Modulator + Demodulator
- Interpol = international + police
- Podcast = iPod + broadcasting
- Blog = web + log
- Soundscape = sound + landscape
- Laundromat = laundry + automat
You probably recognize a lot of these words, maybe even use them on a daily basis, but did not realize they were portmanteaus.
Now that you know what portmanteau words are, how many others can you think of?