Portmanteau is a linguistic blend of two or more words. In French, portmanteau means “suitcase,” implying it holds two or more words inside. We, writers, can use portmanteaus to make our word choice more interesting.
Choose carefully. The last thing we want is to cause confusion.
Even authors like James Joyce, Charles Dickens, and Lewis Carroll created a few portmanteaus that sounded like nonsense, but they worked. In fact, portmanteau first appeared in Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass in a quote from Humpty Dumpty:
“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.”
A master of wordplay and creative word choice, Carroll created an entirely new genre of etymology in one quote. Portmanteau itself is even a portmanteau. It combines the words “porter,” which means “to carry,” and “manteau,” which means “cloak.”
Other portmanteaus have bled into everyday speech, like brunch (lunch + breakfast).
If you go back far enough into any word’s etymology, you’ll find any number of portmanteaus that helped create it.
Common Examples of Portmanteaus
Smog = smoke + fog
Motel = motor + hotel
Infomercial = information + commercial
Spork = spoon + fork
Podcast = iPod + broadcast
Glamping = glamorous + camping
Webinar = web + seminar
Chortle = chuckle + snort
Dramedy = drama + comedy
Listicle = article + list
Newscast = news + broadcast
Pokémon = pocket + monsters
Prequel = previous + sequel
Romcom = romance + comedy
Sitcom = situation + comedy
Telethon = television + marathon
Cosplay = costume + roleplay
Biopic = biography + picture
Bollywood = Bombay + Hollywood
Mockumentary = mock + documentary
Edutainment = education + entertainment
Botox = botulism + toxin
Brexit = Britain + exit
Affluenza = affluent + influenza
Juneteenth = June + nineteenth
Medicare = medical + care
Obamacare = Barack Obama + healthcare
Reaganomics = Ronald Reagan + economics
Ampersand = and + per se + and
Dumbfounded = dumb + confounded
Electrocute = electricity + execute
Flare = flair + glare
Fortnight = fourteen + night
Gerrymander = Elbridge Gerry + salamander
Shepherd = sheep + herder
Splatter = splash + spatter
Squander = scatter + wander (time, money, or opportunity)
Stash = store + cache
Taxicab = taximeter + cabriolet
Velcro = velvet + crochet
Adware = advertising + software
Animatronics = animation + electronics
Bionic = biology + electronic
Bit = binary + digit
Blog = web + log
Breathalyzer = breath + analyzer
Cyborg = cybernetic + organism
Email = electronic + mail
Emoticon = emotion + icon
Intercom = internal + communication
Malware = malicious + software
Modem = modulator + demodulator
Pixel = picture + element
Celebrity Coupling Portmanteaus
Brangelina = Brad Pitt + Angelina Joele
Kimye = Kim Kardashian + Kanye West
J-Rod = Jennifer Lopez + Alex Rodriguez
Lesser-Known Portmanteaus with Definitions
Brony = brother + My Little Pony — male fandom of the My Little Pony series
Movember = Mo + November — an awareness month where men grow facial hair to raise money for men’s health organizations
Ebonics = ebony + phonics — a common dialect in the American Black community
Stagflation = stagnation + inflation — continuous period of high inflation and unemployment
Pizzagate, Russiagate, Monicagate, Weinergate, etc. — The media creates portmanteaus with the word Watergate to imply an event is scandalous.
Imagineer = imagine + engineer — an engineer who works on creative projects
Netiquette = network + etiquette — proper online etiquette
Food Portmanteaus
Cronut = croissant + doughnut
Frappuccino = frappe + cappuccino
Froyo = frozen + yogurt
Grapple = grape + apple
Mocktail = mock + cocktail
Popsicle = pop + icicle
Pluot or Plumcot = plum + apricot (sounds delicious)
Spam = spiced + ham
Tofurky = tofu + turkey
Crossbred Dogs
Aussiedoodle = Australian Shepherd + Poodle
Chug = Chihuahua + Pug
Cockapoo = Cocker Spaniel + Poodle
Horgi = Huskey + Corgi
Labradoodle = Labrador + Poodle
Maltipoo = Maltese + Poodle
Pitsky = Pit Bull + Husky
Puggle = Pug + Beagle
Other Animal Portmanteaus
(usually bred in captivity)
Beefalo or Cattalo = buffalo + cow
Cama = camel + llama
Coywolf = coyote + wolf
Wolfdog = wolf + domestic dog
Geep = goat + sheep
Grolar Bear = grizzly + polar bear (Imagine the size of this bear!)
Liger or Tigion = lion + tiger
Wallaroo = wallaby + kangaroo
Wholphin = false killer whale (not orca; they’re long, slender dolphins that resemble orca in skull structure, black head, and markings, though with gray tones instead of white) + dolphin
Zonkey = zebra + donkey (Coincidentally, I’m on the waitlist to rescue/adopt a micro-mini version)
Conversational Portmanteaus
Athleisure = athletic + leisure
Brainiac = brain + maniac
Bromance = bro/brother + romance
Chillax = chill + relax
Fauxhawk = faux + mohawk (hairstyle)
Frenemy = friend + enemy
Ginormous = gigantic/giant + enormous
Guesstimate = guess + estimate
Hangry = hungry + angry
Jeggings = jeans + leggings
Mansplain = man + explain
Sheeple = sheep + people
Snark = snide + remark
Staycation = stay + vacation
Threepeat = three + repeat
Twerk = twist + jerk
Another common portmanteau is alcoholic + something addictive (workaholic, shopaholic, chocoholic, etc.) It’s so commonly used, many people believe -holic is a suffix for “addiction,” when in reality, it’s a conversational portmanteau.
Portmanteaus are not compound words. Compound words like “notebook” or “football” or “sunflower” use two words to create one, where portmanteaus shorten one or more words in a creative way.
TKZers, did you realize all these words were portmanteaus? Get those creative juices pumping and give us a new portmanteau! Or add to the list.
One I use, and have been trying rather unsuccessfully to get others to use as well, is “e-dress” – e-mail + address…
Unsuccessfully. Haha! 😂 E-dress isn’t bad.
Fun list, Sue! Is that a flist?
Throuple – threesome + couple. From the Netflix series You Me Her about a married couple that adds a third person.
Come to think of it, Netflix is “network” + “flicks” (slang for movies).
Flist… Good one, Debbie!
Thruple, I know. Never thought of Netflix. Excellent addition!
Wow! That’s a long list. Thanks for sharing these. My brain’s not ready to come up with any new ones.
I hear ya, Terry. It’s a lot for a Monday morning.
This is so interesting. I knew most but when I came to Gerrymander, I had to stop and check out why it was named for our fifth vice president (not that I knew that until I looked it up).
This early in the morning the only thing I can come up is Med tech or medical technician. I’m having the Watchman soon so medical terms are on my brain.
I had to look up Gerrymandering, too, Pat. Heard the word a gazillion times and knew the meaning but didn’t know its origin.
That’s a great list, Sue! It’ll take me a while to digest it all.
My husband coined a term, “kinestatic,” years ago for a medical imaging device he invented. The device was called the Kinestatic Charge Detector. The term “kinestatic” means something that is moving in one frame of reference, but still in another. Like walking up a down escalator. (The term still hasn’t made its way into dictionaries, but it will someday.)
Here’s my (early morning) attempt at a portmanteau:
wrilock = writers block
Kay, I feel like I’ve heard kinestatic before, so maybe it’s leaking into medical speech already. Good for him! Sounds like a smart man.
Wrilock is perfect! Love it.
Love this, Sue!
My contribution: iPhone–internet + Phone.
Pretty good for a Monday morn…
Haha, Deb! Good one.
Here’s one I found a few months ago – Romantasy (romantic fantasy).
According to Google’s AI, it’s a “rapidly growing genre blending high-stakes fantasy world-building with central, often steamy, romance, where both elements are essential to the plot. Popularized by BookTok, this genre often features tropes like enemies-to-lovers, forced marriage, and magical realms. Unlike fantasy-romance (romance with fantasy elements), true romantasy ensures magic and the relationship are equally essential to the plot.”
The definition is perfect for the novels I write.
Yes, Romantasy is a well-known genre now. Crazy how that happens.
I am denser than a doorjamb. For the longest time, I thought cosplay meant you were collaborating on a splay. (well, that sure makes sense). It took me months of seeing this new word in print to finally SEE it. Geez.
Haha! We’ve all been there, Kris.