Portmanteau
Portmanteau
Portmanteau (/pɔːrtˈmæntoʊ/, /ˌpɔːrtmænˈtoʊ/; plural portmanteaux or portmanteaus) is a linguistic blend of words, in which parts of multiple words or their phones (sounds) are combined into a new word.
Etymology
The term "portmanteau" was first used in this context by Lewis Carroll in the book Through the Looking-Glass (1871), where Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky, where "slithy" means "lithe and slimy" and "mimsy" is "flimsy and miserable". The word portmanteau itself is derived from the French porter, to carry, and manteau, cloak (from Old French mantel, from Latin mantellum).
Usage
In its modern usage, a portmanteau is a word that fuses two or more words or parts of words to give a combined or loaded meaning. This linguistic phenomenon is used in various aspects of language including morphology, philology, linguistics, and semantics.
Examples
Some examples of portmanteau include smog (smoke + fog), brunch (breakfast + lunch), and motel (motor + hotel).
Related Terms
- Blend: A word formed by combining two different terms.
- Compound (linguistics): A word that consists of more than one stem.
- Affix: A morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form.
- Morpheme: The smallest meaningful unit of language.
- Phoneme: The smallest unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Portmanteau
- Wikipedia's article - Portmanteau
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