portmanteau

Advancedzipf 2.56

Pronunciation

/pɔːtˈmæntəʊ/(port-MAN-toh)

Part of speech

nounformal

Chinese

混成词；合体词（也指大皮箱）

Definition

A word blending the sounds and meanings of two others (e.g., "smog" from smoke + fog); also, a large leather suitcase.

Word family

  • (no common derivatives)

Collocations

  • portmanteau word
  • classic portmanteau
  • portmanteau of
  • linguistic portmanteau

Examples

  1. 1."Brunch" is a portmanteau of "breakfast" and "lunch." (blended word)
  2. 2."Brexit" — Britain + exit — is a modern portmanteau that entered global vocabulary overnight. (word blend)

Synonyms

  • blend/blɛnd/— combination, linguistics
  • neologism/niːˈɒlədʒɪzəm/— new word, broader

Etymology

from French "portemanteau" — porter (to carry) + manteau (mantle/coat) — originally a case for carrying clothes — Lewis Carroll popularized the linguistic sense in "Through the Looking-Glass" (1871)