Portmanteau word
A portmanteau word (/pɔːrtˈmæntoʊ/ (File:Speaker Icon.svg listen)) is made of other words, or parts of words. It comes from putting two (or more) other words together,[1] like motel, from motor and hotel.[2]
Origin
Portmanteau originally meant a type of suitcase with two separate parts for storage.[3] The first use as a word combination appeared in Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking-Glass. There Humpty Dumpty explains that some of the unusual words in Jabberwocky are other words packed together into one word, as two parts of a portmanteau suitcase are packed together.
Examples
Portmanteau itself is an example, combining the French words for carry (porter) and coat (manteau) into a coat carrier. Wikipedia is a portmanteau of wiki (Hawaiian for fast) and encyclopedia.
Portmanteau Word Media
- Spork.jpg
photograph of a hand holding a titanium spork
- WISCOMPTON t-shirt 09-15-2012 089 (7997657762) (cropped).jpg
This T-shirt combines the names of two places, Wisconsin and Compton, California, to form "Wiscompton".