List of portmanteaus
This article lists examples of portmanteaus or "blends" — words formed by combining two other words, in the English language.
General
- faction from fact and fiction
- fantabulous from fantastic and fabulous
- foon from fork and spoon (see spork, below)
- frankenfood from Frankenstein and food
- frankenword from Frankenstein and word
- ginormous from gigantic and enormous
- greenwash from green and whitewash
- grue from green and blue (see bleen, above)
- guesstimate from guess and estimate
- pizzone from pizza and calzone (popularized by Pizza Hut)
- portmanteau from the French porte (carry) and manteau (coat), hence a coat hook
- 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
- sexcellent from sex and excellent
- sexercise from sex and exercise
- sexploitation from sex and exploitation
- Sexplosion! from sexual and explosion (a TKK album)
- skort from skirt and short (as in short pants)
- smog from smoke and fog
- soundscape from sound and landscape
- spork from spoon and fork
- squiggle from squirm and wiggle
- stagflation from stagnation and inflation
- swaption from swap and option
- yestergay from yesterday and gay
Internet and computing
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
- infomercial from information and commercial
- infotainment from information and entertainment
- multiplex from multiple and cineplex! - this word has a different meaning in telecommunications
Art, literature and entertainment
- amerime from American and anime.
- 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 excercise, 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
- 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
- threatmantic from threatening and romantic, used to describe threatening love notes
Organizations and companies
- Accenture from accent and future (accent on the future)
- 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)
- Waitrose from founders names Wallace Waite and Arthur Rose
Animals
- burbled is not a portmanteau nor a coinage, but a legitimate dictionary word derived from the Middle English "burblen."
See also
