- Four Rules for Portmanteau Words Creation. Creating a new portmanteau word can feel like linguistic alchemy, but there’s actually a method to the magic.
- A one-sentence definition is easy enough: a portmanteau word is, in summary, a word that has been formed by blending two existing words together.
- Portmanteau, on the other hand, shares the same semantic features. For example, the word “brunch” is formed by splicing two words “breakfast” and “lunch.”
- But in English, the word portmanteau also has a second and different meaning, one that refers to a type of word rather than to a suitcase.
- The French word portmanteau describes a two-part suitcase. It combines the words porte, which means “to carry,” and manteau, meaning “cloak.”
- One of its most inventive components is the portmanteau word — one formed by combining two words into a single (and often deprecating and/or ironically...
- The portmanteau definition describes a word formed by blending the sounds and meanings of at least two other words.
- Portmanteau words, also called blended words or simply portmanteaux, are words that are formed by splicing or merging two other words together.
- A portmanteau word is a blend of two or more words, or parts of words, that expresses the combined meaning of those words.
- A note by the owner of the volume explains the word as a combination of tomahawk and axe: "It is a portmanteau word, which must have been as clear to the...