In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice that slithy combines the words ‘lithe and slimy’ and mimsy means ‘flimsy and miserable.’ Though Carroll’s fanciful expressions may have lacked linguistic legs, his analogous use of portmanteau, a Middle French term for ‘a large suitcase,’ coined the word as a literary device. In fact, portmanteau is itself a portmanteau that joins porter (to carry) and manteau (cloak)!
Portmanteau words are very popular in modern-day English and new combinations can manifest from any social corner. Many older words have become so common that their timely origins are forgotten and their novelty has long since worn off. Here is a short list of 25 portmanteaux in order of their known appearance.
- brunch – breakfast + lunch; late 19th century
- electrocution – electricity + execution; 1889
- motorcade – motor + cavalcade; early 20th century
- smog – smoke + fog; early 20th century
- spork – spoon + fork; 1909
- hangry – hungry + angry; 1918
- Chunnel – channel + tunnel; 1920s
- motel – motor + hotel; 1920s
- meld – melt + weld; 1930s
- ginormous – gigantic + enormous; 1948
- frenemy – friend + enemy; 1950s
- rockabilly – rock’n’roll + hill-billy; 1950s
- televangelist – television + evangelist; 1958
- bionic – biology + electronic; 1960s
- workaholic – work + alcoholic; 1968
- internet – inter [reciprocal] + network; 1970s
- gaydar – gay + radar; 1980s
- carjack – car + hijack; 1990s
- cosplay – costume + play; 1990s
- emoticon – emotion + icon; 1990s
- metrosexual – metropolitan + heterosexual; 1990s
- adorkable – adorable + dorky; 21st century
- anticipointment – anticipation + disappointment; 21st century
- Brangelina – Brad + Angelina; 21st century
- bromance – brother + romance; 21st century
- mansplain – man + explain; 21st century
If you enjoyed reading this post, check out these posts on fossilized words, the problem with peas, or eponyms named after notorious personalities!
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