portmanteau word en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
First used by Lewis Carroll in 1871, based on the concept of two words packed together, like a portmanteau (“a travelling case having two halves joined by a hinge”).
Meanings
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A word which combines the meaning of two words (or, rarely, more than two words), formed by combining the words, usually, but not always, by adjoining the first part of one word and the last part of the other, the adjoining parts often having a common vowel.
He found the blend "tomax" in "a collection of gratulatory verses presented by the President and Fellows of Harvard College 1 to the new King, George III," dated 1761. A note by the owner of the volume explains the word as a combination of tomahawk and axe: "It is a portmanteau word, which must have been as clear to the average reader in England of 1761 — as clear to George III himself - as brillig and slithy would have been to us, had not Humpty Dumpty kindly explained them."
1938, Joane Chaffe Miller, Conversion and Fusion in Modern English: A Concise History of the Scholarly Recognition of These Linguistic Processes:Well, ‘slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy.’ ‘Lithe’ is the same as ‘active.’ You see it’s like a portmanteau⸺there are two meanings packed up into one word.
[1871 December 27 (indicated as 1872), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Humpty Dumpty”, in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 126–127:One reason for the popularity of portmanteau words in naming language hybrids may be the fact that the names themselves embody a type of hybridity.
2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 10:1. Portmanteau Words and Allomorphy - This paper is primarily concerned with the theoretical implications of what have been called portmanteau words (Hockett, 1947)
1985, Carlos Piera of Cornell University, “On the Representation of Higher Order Complex Words”, in Selected Papers from the XIIIth Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, Chapel Hill, N.C., 24-26 March 1983, page 287:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| portmanteau words | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Relateds
Synonyms
frankenword · blend · portmantologism · blend word · telescope word · lexical blend · brunch word · amalgamation · portmanteau
Translations (98)
pl skrzyżowanie wyrazów (word which combines the meaning of two words) · hu szóösszevonás (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ru сло́во-бума́жник (word which combines the meaning of two words) · io vort-ifar (word which combines the meaning of two words) · is samrunaorð (word which combines the meaning of two words) · de Portmanteau (word which combines the meaning of two words) · vi từ kết hợp (word which combines the meaning of two words) · et sulandsõna (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nb sammentrukket ord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ja 混成語 (word which combines the meaning of two words) · id lakuran (word which combines the meaning of two words) · hu kontamináció (word which combines the meaning of two words) · de Kontamination (word which combines the meaning of two words) · pt cruzamento (word which combines the meaning of two words) · cs mísení (word which combines the meaning of two words) · sv kontamination (word which combines the meaning of two words) · tr birleşik kelime (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ru словослия́ние (word which combines the meaning of two words) · be кантаміна́цыя (word which combines the meaning of two words) · es contracción (word which combines the meaning of two words) · hu szóvegyülés (word which combines the meaning of two words) · pl zbitka słowna (word which combines the meaning of two words) · br ger-malizenn (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nn samantrekt ord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · fr mot-valise (word which combines the meaning of two words) · cs splynulina (word which combines the meaning of two words) · eu portmanteau hitza (word which combines the meaning of two words) · pl zbitka wyrazowa (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nl porte-manteauwoord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · es acrónimo (word which combines the meaning of two words) · sv teleskopord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · lb Portemanteau-Wuert (word which combines the meaning of two words) · el σύμμειγμα (word which combines the meaning of two words) · pt amálgama (word which combines the meaning of two words) · cs křížení (word which combines the meaning of two words) · uk контаміна́ція (word which combines the meaning of two words) · fi sulautuma (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ur امیختہ (word which combines the meaning of two words) · hu szóösszerántás (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ro cuvânt telescopat (word which combines the meaning of two words) · sh кова̀ница (word which combines the meaning of two words) · th คำผสม (word which combines the meaning of two words) · pt siglonimização (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ko 혼성어 (word which combines the meaning of two words) · cmn 混成詞 /混成词 (word which combines the meaning of two words) · hu szóalakvegyülés (word which combines the meaning of two words) · da portmanteau (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nl vlechtwoord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · fa تکواژ مرکب (word which combines the meaning of two words) · bn পিন্ডারিশব্দ (word which combines the meaning of two words) · kk біріккен сөздер (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nn portmanteau-ord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · tr birleşik sözcük (word which combines the meaning of two words) · da portmanteau-ord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · bn পিন্ডারি (word which combines the meaning of two words) · de Portmanteau-Wort (word which combines the meaning of two words) · th คำสนธิ (word which combines the meaning of two words) · fi koostesana (word which combines the meaning of two words) · lv kontaminācija (word which combines the meaning of two words) · de Kofferwort (word which combines the meaning of two words) · pt palavra-valise (word which combines the meaning of two words) · wa spotchî aplacaedje (word which combines the meaning of two words) · sh kovànica (word which combines the meaning of two words) · eo kofrovorto (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nl kofferwoord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · lb Portmanteau-Wuert (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ro cuvânt telescopizat (word which combines the meaning of two words) · de Wortkreuzung (word which combines the meaning of two words) · de Verschmelzung (word which combines the meaning of two words) · cy cyfansoddair cywasgedig (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nb portemanteau (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nl versmelting (word which combines the meaning of two words) · fa آمیزهسازی (word which combines the meaning of two words) · cs kontaminace (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ru словостяже́ние (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nl contaminatie (word which combines the meaning of two words) · chr ᎠᏑᏰᎲᎯ (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ml ചേർത്തുള്ള കൃത്രിമവാക്ക് (word which combines the meaning of two words) · de Schachtelwort (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ar لَفْظٌ مَنْحُوت (word which combines the meaning of two words) · es compuesto acronímico (word which combines the meaning of two words) · hu vegyülékszó (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ru контамина́ция (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ja 鞄語 (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nb teleskopord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ca mot creuat (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nb portmanteau-ord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · kmr peyva hevedudanî (word which combines the meaning of two words) · fa تکواژ چندوجهی (word which combines the meaning of two words) · th สมาส (word which combines the meaning of two words) · is frakkaorð (word which combines the meaning of two words) · he הֶלְחֵם בְּסִיסִים (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ar مَزَاج (word which combines the meaning of two words) · ro cuvânt-valiză (word which combines the meaning of two words) · nn teleskopord (word which combines the meaning of two words) · it parola macedonia (word which combines the meaning of two words) · eu portmanteau (word which combines the meaning of two words) · fr amalgame (word which combines the meaning of two words)