Portmanteau word
A portmanteau word (/pɔːrtˈmæntoʊ/ (
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
photograph of a hand holding a titanium spork
This T-shirt combines the names of two places, Wisconsin and Compton, California, to form "Wiscompton".
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References
- ↑ "portmanteau word". Webster's New World College Dictionary. (2010). Cleveland: Wiley.
- ↑ "Portmanteau word". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
- ↑ Oxford dictionaries. [1]