Portmanteau
A portmanteau (plural: portmanteaus or portmanteaux) is a word or morpheme that fuses two or more words or parts of words to give a combined meaning. A folk usage of portmanteau refers to a word that is formed by combining both sounds and meanings from two or more words.
- Examples
- "animatronics" from "animation" and "electronics".
- "cyborg", a term which is commonly used to refer to a "cybernetic organism".
Etymology
This usage of the word was coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871). In the book, Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice words from Jabberwocky, saying, "Well, slithy means lithe and slimy ... You see it's like a portmanteau - there are two meanings packed up into one word." Carroll often used such words to a humorous effect in his work.
"Portmanteau", from Middle French "porter" (to carry) and "manteau" (a coat or cover), formerly referred to a large travelling bag or suitcase with two compartments, hence the linguistic idea of fusing two words and their meanings into one. "Portmanteau" is rarely used to refer to a suitcase in English any more, since that type of a suitcase has fallen into disuse.
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