This Tip describes a portmanteau that packs two meanings into one word, such as backronym (back + acronym) and prequiem (preemptive + requiem).
“Don’t bogglefunk around with words.” Roald Dahl
Do You Portmanteau?
I recently read an article in which the word satisficing was used. The word intrigued me. According to the author, satisficing is a combination of sufficing and satisfying.
This led me to investigate if there were other words that someone made by combining the sounds and meanings of two existing words. I learned that such a composite word is called a portmanteau. I also discovered that there are many portmanteaus that we use on a daily basis, frequently without realizing that’s what they are.
They typically define a portmanteau as a large trunk or suitcase that opens into two equal parts. However, Lewis Carroll gave it a new meaning in his book, Through the Looking Glass, when he had Humpty Dumpty say: “Well, ‘slithy’ means “lithe and slimy” and ‘mimsy’ is “flimsy and miserable”. You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.”
Familiar Portmaneau Words
Some portmanteau words are very familiar and easy to deconstruct:
| · Backronym: back + acronym | · Manscaping: man + landscaping |
| · Breathalyzer: breath + analyzer | · Meld: melt + weld |
| · Brexit: Britain + exit | · Motel: motor + hotel |
| · Camcorder: camera + recorder | · Motorcycle: motorized + bicycle |
| · Caplet: capsule + tablet | · Netflix: internet + flicks |
| · Glamping: glamorous + camping | · Palimony: partner + alimony |
| · Infomercial: information + commercial | · Pluot: plum + apricot |
| · Infotainment: information + entertainment | · Simulcast: simultaneous + broadcast |
| · Inscape: interior + landscape | · Sitcom: situational + comedy |
| · Internet: international + network | · Tween: teen + between |
| · Malware: malicious + software | · Wikipedia: wiki + encyclopedia |
Unfamilar Linked Words but Easy to Deconstruct
Some portmanteau words are unfamiliar, but they are still relatively easy to deconstruct:
| · Affluenza: affluent + influenza | · Prequiem: preemptive + requiem
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| · Anticipointment: anticipation + disappointment | · Screenager: screen + teenager
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Contributing Terms are Surprising
Some words are very familiar, but their contributing terms may be surprising- at least, they surprised me. For example, I never knew that the word blog is composed of web and log.
| · Bit: binary + digit | · Ineptitude: inept + attitude |
| · Chortle: chuckle + snort | · Microsoft: microcomputer + software |
| · Cyborg: cybernetics + organism | · Modem: modulation + demodulation |
| · Endorphin: endogenous + morphine | · Muppet: marionette + puppet |
| · Fortnight: fourteen + nights | · Pixel: picture + element |
| · Gainsay: against + say | · Prissy: prim + sissy |
| · Garmin: Garry Burrell + Min Kao | · Skype: sky + peer-to-peer |
| · Gerrymander: Gerry + salamander | · Smog: smoke + fog |
| · Goodbye: God + be (with) + ye | · Taxicab: taximeter + cabriolet |
| · Groupon: group + coupon | · Travelogue: travel + monologue |
| · Hassle: haggle + tussle | · Vitamin: vita + amine |
| · Humongous: huge + monstrous | · WiFi: wireless + fidelity |
There were some words I’ve never seen before. For example, I live in Wisconsin, where we get a lot of snow and ice. I’ve never heard this word used in any weather forecast, snice: snow and ice.
New Words to Me
| · Ambigram: ambiguous + gram | · Mizzle: mist + drizzle |
| · Automagically: automatic + magically | · Sporgery: spam + forgery |
| · Flexitarian: vegetarian + flexible | · Stagflation: stagnation + inflation |
And some words seem like malapropisms when we hear them for the first time. However, they are actually real words; for example, refudiate: repudiate + refute
It really makes me wonder who originally coined these words, why they felt the need to create them, and how they were so darn clever!
If you would like to see more portmanteaus, these two sites have very complete lists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portmanteaus and http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/portmant.htm
By the way, there are numerous websites that can help you if you’d like to create your own portmanteaus. One site, https://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Made-Up-Word , walks you through a step by step process. Another site does the conversion for you: http://www.degraeve.com/invent-a-word.
May your learning be sweet.
Deborah
