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List of Portmanteau Words   Add to wiki
IDKT Wiki List

Tags: Portmanteau, words, blend, combine, Movember, smog, spork, English, interesting, idkt, fun

A portmanteau is a blend of two (or more) words or morphemes into one new word. A portmanteau word typically combines both sounds and meanings, as in smog, coined by blending smoke and fog. More generally, it may refer to any term or phrase that combines two or more meanings. The word "portmanteau" was first used in this sense by Lewis Carroll in the book Through the Looking-Glass (1871), in which Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky, where "slithy" means "lithe and slimy" and "mimsy" is "flimsy and miserable". Humpty Dumpty explains the practice of combining words in various ways by telling Alice, "You see it's like a portmanteau -- there are two meanings packed up into one word.'" Here is a list of some other examples of portmanteaus:

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  • Accenture = accent + future
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  • affluenza = affluence + influenza
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  • anacronym = anachronism + acronym
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  • anecdata = anecdote + data
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  • automobilia = automobile + memorabilia
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  • avionics = aviation + electronics
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  • backronym = backwards + acronym
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  • Bennifer = Ben Affleck + Jennifer Lopez
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  • beurgeois = beur + bourgeois
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  • blaccent = black + accent - used of non-blacks who try to sound black
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  • blaxploitation = black + exploitation
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  • bleen = blue + green (coined by Nelson Goodman to illustrate Goodman's paradox)
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  • bodacious = bold + audacious was made popular during the 80's.
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  • Bootylicious = booty + delicious - a title of a Destiny's Child song
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  • Brangelina = Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie
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  • breathalyzer = breath + analyzer
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  • bromance = brother + romance
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  • brunch = breakfast + lunch
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  • Calgon = calcium + gone
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  • Cambozola = Camembert + Gorgonzola
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  • camcorder = camera + recorder
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  • carjack = car + hijack
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  • chavtastic = chav + fantastic (meaning, 'having many characteristics of a chav', rather than a 'fantastic chav')
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  • chortle = chuckle + snort (coined by Lewis Carroll)
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  • Cinemax = cinema + maximum
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  • clopen = closed + open
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  • cocacolonization = Coca-Cola + colonization
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  • Comcast = communication + broadcast
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  • cremains = cremate + remains
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  • cryptex = cryptology + codex
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  • Cyberpunk = cybernetics + punk
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  • cyborg = cybernetic + organism
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  • Diamat = Dialectical Materialism
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  • digipeater = digital + repeater
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  • ebonics = ebony + phonics
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  • ecoteur = ecological + saboteur
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  • faction = fact + fiction
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  • fantabulous = fantastic + fabulous
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  • flavorite = flavor + favorite
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  • foon = fork + spoon (see spork, below)
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  • frankenfood = Frankenstein + food
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  • frankenword = Frankenstein + word
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  • fratire = fraternity + satire
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  • frenemy = friend + enemy
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  • gaydar = gay + radar
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  • gerrym+er = Elbridge Gerry + salam+er
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  • ginormous = gigantic + enormous
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  • greenwash = green + whitewash
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  • grue = green + blue (see bleen, above)
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  • guesstimate = guess + estimate
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  • hasbian = has been + lesbian
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  • jazzercise = jazz + exercise
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  • jeggings = jeans + leggings
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  • Liger = lion + tiger
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  • mathlete = math + athlete
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  • mechatronics = mechanical + electronics
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  • meld = melt + weld
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  • Mexicali = Mexico + California
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  • mizzle, form mist + drizzle
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  • mobisode = mobile (phone) + episode
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  • mockney = mock + Cockney
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  • mockumentary = mock + documentary
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  • moobs = man + boobs
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  • moped = motor + pedal
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  • motel = motor + hotel
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  • Movember = mo + November
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  • murse = man + purse
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  • napalm = naphthene + palmitate
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  • newscast = news + broadcast
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  • Oxbridge = Oxford + Cambridge
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  • Panera = pan + era
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  • paratrooper = parachute + trooper
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  • Pastafarian = pasta + Rastafarian. From Pastafarianism or The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
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  • pizzone (food) = pizza + calzone (popularized by Pizza Hut)
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  • posistor = positive + thermistor
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  • prosumer = either producer or professional + consumer
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  • radome = radar + dome
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  • redox = reduction + oxidation
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  • rockumentary = rock + documentary (also mockumentary = mock + documentary)
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  • sexercise = sex + exercise
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  • sexpert = sex + expert (refers mainly to people who give advice about sex + sexual matters)
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  • sexploitation = sex + exploitation
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  • sexting = sex + texting
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  • shart = shit + fart
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  • simulcasting = simultaneous + broadcasting
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  • skort = skirt + short (as in short pants)
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  • Skort = skirt + shorts
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  • skyjack = sky + hijack
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  • smog = smoke + fog
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  • snark = snide + remark
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  • soundscape = sound + l+scape
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  • Spanglish, Spanish + English mixed up to humorous effect (cf. Chinglish, Franglais)
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  • spork = spoon + fork
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  • squiggle = squirm + wiggle
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  • stagflation = stagnation + inflation
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  • swaption = swap + option
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  • tangelo = tangerine + pomelo
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  • televangelist = television + evangelist
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  • terrist = Terra + terrorist
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  • Texarkana = Texas + Arkansas + Louisiana
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  • thermistor = thermal + resistor
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  • tofurkey = tofu + turkey
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  • toonie = two + loonie
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  • transponder = transmitter + responder
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  • Turducken = turkey + duck
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  • turducken = turkey, duck, + chicken
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  • urinalysis = urine + analysis
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  • Verizon = veritas + horizon
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  • Wikipedia = wiki + encyclopedia
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  • woon = wooden + spoon (flat wooden things for eating dished ice cream)
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  • yestergay = yesterday + gay

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