List of portmanteaux
This is a partial list of portmanteaux or "blends" — words formed by combining two other words, in the English language.
General
- affluenza from affluence and influenza
- anacronym from anachronism and acronym
- avionics from aviation and electronics
- backronym from back and acronym
- blaxploitation from black and exploitation
- blaccent from black and accent - used of non-blacks who try to sound black
- bleen from blue and green (coined by Nelson Goodman to illustrate Goodman's paradox)
- Bootylicious from booty and delicious - a title of a Destiny's Child song
- boxercise from boxing and exercise
- brunch from breakfast and lunch
- cafetorium from cafeteria and auditorium; a room, usually in a school, used for both purposes; see also gymnatorium.
- Californicate from California and fornicate
- camcorder from camera and recorder
- caplet from capsule and tablet
- carboloy from carbon and alloy
- chortle from chuckle and snort (coined by Lewis Carroll)
- Chunnel from Channel and tunnel
- cocacolonization from Coca-Cola and colonization
- cryptex from cryptology and codex
- cyborg from cybernetic and organism
- Diamat from Dialectical Materialism
- digipeater from digital and repeater
- dramedy from drama and comedy
- faction from fact and fiction
- fantabulous from fantastic and fabulous
- folksonomy from folk + taxonomy
- foon from fork and spoon (see spork, below)
- frankenfood from Frankenstein and food
- frankenword from Frankenstein and word
- galumph from gallop +triumph
- ginormous from gigantic and enormous
- greenwash from green and whitewash
- grue from green and blue (see bleen, above)
- guesstimate from guess and estimate
- gymnatorium from gymnasium and auditorium; a room, usually in a school, used for both purposes; see also cafetorium)
- hasbian from has been and lesbian
- infomercial from information + commercial
- Jazzercise from jazz and exercise
- knork from knife and fork - a fork with an outer tine sharpened slightly to enhance the cutting ability of the tine
- —lish used as a suffix to form many frankenwords meaning foreign varieties of English:
- Chinglish (Chinese)
- Germlish or Denglish (German)
- Hebrish (Hebrew)
- Hinglish (Hindi)
- Japlish (Japanese)
- Konglish (Korean)
- Malglish (Malaysian)
- Russlish (Russian)
- Singlish (Singaporean)
- Spanglish (Spanish)
- Swedlish (Swedish)
- lupper from lunch and supper
- mantastic from man and fantastic
- meld from melt and weld
- melodrama from melody and drama
- mingy from mean and stingy
- mobisode from mobile (phone) and episode
- mockney from mock and Cockney
- mockumentary from mock and documentary
- moped from motor and pedal
- motel from motor and hotel
- pizzone from pizza and calzone (popularized by Pizza Hut)
- pomato from potato and tomato
- posistor from positive and thermistor
- prequel from pre— and sequel
- procrasturbate from procrastinate and masturbate.
- Usually means "to delay simply because it feels good", occasionally "to indulge in unnecessary, self-involved pedantry". From the broader definitions of masturbatory as simply "pleasurable", or sometimes "excessively self-involved".
- prosumer from either producer or professional and consumer
- Republicrat or Demopublican from Republican and Democrat (or vice versa)
- rockumentary from rock and documentary (also mockumentary, from mock and documentary)
- sexcellent from sex and excellent
- sexercise from sex and exercise
- sexploitation from sex and exploitation
- Sexplosion! from sexual and explosion (a TKK album)
- simulcast from simultaneous and broadcast
- skort from skirt and short (as in short pants)
- smaze from smoke and haze
- smog from smoke and fog
- soundscape from sound and landscape
- spork from spoon and fork
- sportscast from sports and broadcast
- squiggle from squirm and wiggle
- stagflation from stagnation and inflation
- swaption from swap and option
- tangelo from tangerine and pomelo
- teensploitation from teen and exploitation
- televangelist from television and evangelist
- terrist from Terra and terrorism
- Texican from Texan and Mexican
- thermistor from thermal and resistor
- toonie from two and loonie
- transistor from transfer and resistor
- triticale from triticum and secale (Latin for wheat and rye)
- twigloo from twig and igloo
- woon from wooden and spoon (flat wooden things for eating dished ice cream)
- yestergay from yesterday and gay
Internet and computing
- alphanumeric from alphabetic and numeric
- apronym from appropriate and acronym
- ASCIIbetical from ASCII and alphabetical
- automagic(al) from automatic and magic(al)
- bit from binary and digit
- codec from coder and decoder
- datacasting from data and broadcasting
- digerati from digital and literati
- emoticon from emotion and icon
- Internet from inter and network
- freeware from free and software
- knowledgebase from knowledge and database
- malware from malicious and software
- modem from modulator and demodulator
- netizen from (Inter)net and citizen
- netiquette from (Inter)net and etiquette (similarly, wikiquette)
- pixel from picture and element
- qubit from quantum and bit
- shareware from share and software
- smudgemate from smudge and estimate
- sysop from system and operator
- spamdexing from spam and indexing
- sporgery from spam and forgery
- voxel from volume and pixel
Marketing
- advertainment from advertising and entertainment
- advertorial from advertising and editorial
- cineplex from cinema and complex (building)
- docudrama from documentary and drama
- docusoap from documentary and soap opera (serialised drama)
- dramality from dramatic and reality (television)
- edutainment from education and entertainment
- fraudience from fraud and audience
- infomercial from information and commercial
- infotainment from information and entertainment
- Limon from lime + lemon; a commercial construction to promote the soft drink Sprite
- multiplex from multiple and cineplex! - this word has a different meaning in telecommunications
Art, literature and entertainment
- arfé from art and café
- Black To My Roots (a play) from black and "back to my roots"
- Bollywood from Bombay and Hollywood
- britcom from British and comedy (see also: sitcom)
- dancercise from dance and exercise
- dancersize from dance and circumsize, coined in jest on Fry and Laurie
- dramality from drama and reality television (coined by Mark Burnett to describe his television series Survivor)
- dubtitle from dub and subtitle, for subtitles transcribed from dubbed soundtrack, especially in anime
- Kripkenstein from Kripke and Wittgenstein, coined to describe a philosophical position that Kripke argued one could read into Wittgenstein's work, but which neither he nor Wittgenstein accepted.
- machinima from machine and cinema
- mathercise from mathematics and exercise, used by Mr. Morales to describe group aerobics involving shaping one's body into the specified equation.
- mockumentary from mock and documentary
- newrun from new and rerun - episode from a talk-show wherin old subjects are rehashed.
- Orgasmatron from orgasm and electron(ic) - from Woody Allen's Sleeper
- Policenauts from police and astronaut
- sacrilicious from sacrilege and delicious, used by Homer Simpson
- scanlation from scan and translation, used for unofficial internet-distributed translations of manga
- sitcom from situation and comedy (related(?): SITCOM as acronym, meaning 'Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage')
- smark from smart and mark - professional wrestling slang for fans who recognize the scripted nature of the business, but still enjoy the in-ring entertainment
- streetball from street and basketball
- threatmantic from threatening and romantic, used to describe threatening love notes
Organizations and companies
- Accenture from accent and future (accent on the future)
- Carborundum (original manufacturer of the abrasive, carborundum) from carbon and corundum.
- Compaq from computer, pack, and compact (to denote a small integral object)
- CONMEBOL from Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (Spanish for "South American Football Confederation")
- CONELRAD
- Debian from founder Ian Murdock and his wife Debra
- Edexcel from educational and excellence
- Intel from integrated and electronics
- Mattel from founders names Harold "Matt" Matson and Elliot Handler
- Microsoft from microcomputer and software
- Mitel from founders names Michael Cowpland and Terry Matthews and Lawnmowers after the company's original business plan
- Palmolive from palm and olive
- Sony from sonus (Latin for sound) and sonny (slang for youngster)
- Verizon from veritas (Latin for truth) and horizon
- Waitrose from founders' names Wallace Waite and Arthur Rose
Animals
- cockapoo from Cocker and poodle
- geep from goat and sheep
- liger from lion and tiger
- mog from man and dog (from the movie Spaceballs)
- tigon from tiger and lion
- turducken from turkey, duck, and chicken
- zeedonk from zebra and donkey
By Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky
- burbled is not a portmanteau nor a coinage, but a legitimate dictionary word derived from the Middle English "burblen."