List of portmanteaus
This is a partial list of notable portmanteaus or "blends" — words formed by combining two other words, in the English language.
General
- affluenza, from affluence and influenza
- anacronym, from anachronism and acronym
- anecdata, from anecdote and data
- Amerind peoples, from American and indigenous peoples
- Amerithrax, from American and anthrax attacks
- automobilia, from automobile and memorabilia
- avionics, from aviation and electronics
- backronym, from backwards and acronym
- banjitar, a combination musical instrument of a banjo and a guitar
- bankster, from banker and gangster
- beurgeois, from beur and bourgeois
- blaccent, from black and accent – used of non-blacks who try to sound black
- blaxploitation, from black and exploitation
- bleen, from blue and green (coined by Nelson Goodman to illustrate Goodman's paradox)
- bodacious, from bold and audacious was made popular during the 80's.
- Bootylicious, from booty and delicious – a title of a Destiny's Child song
- breathalyzer, from breath and analyzer
- bromance, from brother and romance
- brostache, from brother and mustache – an app created by GEICO for a commercial
- brunch, from breakfast and lunch
- camcorder, from camera and recorder
- carjack, from car and hijack
- celesbian, from celebrity and lesbian
- chuggers, from charity and muggers
- Chunnel, from Channel and tunnel.
- chavtastic, from chav and fantastic (meaning, 'having many characteristics of a chav', rather than a 'fantastic chav')
- Chinglish, English and Chinese mixed up to humorous effect (cf. Spanglish, Franglais)
- chortle, from chuckle and snort (coined by Lewis Carroll)
- clopen, from closed and open
- cocacolonization, from Coca-Cola and colonization
- cremains, from cremate and remains
- cryptex, from cryptology and codex
- cyberdelic, from cybernetics and psychedelic
- cyberpunk, from cybernetics and punk
- cyborg, from cybernetic and organism
- Diamat, from Dialectical Materialism
- digerati, from digital and literati
- digipeater, from digital and repeater
- ebonics, from ebony and phonics
- ecoteur, from ecological and saboteur
- edutainment, from education and entertainment
- faction, from fact and fiction
- fantabulous, from fantastic and fabulous
- foon, from fork and spoon (see spork, below)
- flavorite, from flavor and favorite
- fluidram, from fluid and dram
- Franglais, French and English mixed up to humorous effect (cf. Chinglish, Spanglish)
- frankenfood, from Frankenstein and food
- frankenword, from Frankenstein and word
- fratire, from fraternity and satire
- frenemy, from friend and enemy
- gaydar, from gay and radar
- Gerrymander, from Elbridge Gerry and salamander
- ginormous, from gigantic and enormous
- greenwash, from green and whitewash
- grue, from green and blue (see bleen, above)
- guesstimate, from guess and estimate
- guitarlin, combination musical instrument of a guitar and mandolin
- hasbian, from has been and lesbian
- irregardless, from irrespective and regardless
- jazzercise, from jazz and exercise
- jeggings, from jeans and leggings
- kidult, from kid and adult
- linner, from lunch and dinner
- lupper, from lunch and supper
- mathlete, from math and athlete
- meld, from melt and weld
- mechatronics, from mechanical and electronics
- mizzle, form mist and drizzle
- mobeload, from mobile and upload
- mobisode, from mobile (phone) and episode
- mockney, from mock and Cockney
- mockumentary, from mock and documentary
- moobs, from man and boobs
- moped, from motor and pedal
- motel, from motor and hotel
- murse, from man and purse
- napalm, from naphthene and palmitate
- newscast, from news and broadcast
- nuyorican, from New York and Puerto Rican
- Oxbridge, from Oxford and Cambridge
- paratrooper, from parachute and trooper
- Pastafarian, from pasta and Rastafarian; from Pastafarianism or The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
- pizzone (food), from pizza and calzone (popularized by Pizza Hut)
- Plarn, from plastic bags and yarn
- Plytanium, brand of plywood from titanium and plywood
- posistor, from positive and thermistor
- prosumer, from either producer or professional and consumer
- radome, from radar and dome
- redox, from reduction and oxidation
- rockumentary, from rock and documentary (also mockumentary, from mock and documentary)
- scromlette, from scrambled eggs and omelette
- serpantalón, (french) from serpent and pantalón
- sexercise, from sex and exercise
- sexpert, from sex and expert (refers mainly to people who give advice about sex and sexual matters)
- sexploitation, from sex and exploitation
- sexting, from sex and texting
- shart, from shit and fart
- simulcasting, from simultaneous and broadcasting
- skort, from skirt and short (as in short pants)
- skyjack, from sky and hijack
- smog, from smoke and fog
- snark, from snide and remark
- snatiation. from sneeze and satiation
- soundscape, from sound and landscape
- Spanglish, Spanish and English mixed up to humorous effect (cf. Chinglish, Franglais)
- spork, from spoon and fork
- squiggle, from squirm and wiggle
- stagflation, from stagnation and inflation
- surfactant, from surface active agent
- swapportunity, from swap and opportunity an opportunity to swap
- swaption, from swap and option
- tangelo, from tangerine and pomelo
- televangelist, from television and evangelist
- terrist, from Terra and terrorist
- thermistor, from thermal and resistor
- tofurkey, from tofu and turkey
- toonie, from two and loonie
- transponder, from transmitter and responder
- turducken, from turkey, duck, and chicken
- urinalysis, from urine and analysis
- vitamer, from vitamin and isomer
- wigger, from white and nigger
- 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
- ASCIIbetical, from ASCII and alphabetical
- balun, from balanced and unbalanced
- bit, from binary and digit
- blog, from web and log
- codec, from coder and decoder
- datacasting, from data and broadcasting
- digerati, from digital and literati
- emoticon, from emotion and icon
- freeware, from free and software
- knowledgebase, from knowledge and database
- malware, from malicious and software
- mozilla, from "mosaic killer" + godzilla
- modem, from modulator and demodulator
- nanotech, from nano and technology
- netizen, from (Inter)net and citizen
- netiquette, from (Inter)net and etiquette (similarly, wikiquette)
- pixel, from picture and element
- qubit, from quantum and bit
- serdes, from serialize and deserialize
- shareware, from share and software
- skype, from Sky and peer-to-peer
- spamdexing, from spam and indexing
- sporgery, from spam and forgery
- sysop, from system and operator
- sysadmin, from system and administrator
- tranceiver, from transmitter and receiver
- treap, from tree and heap
- voxel, from volume and pixel
- vlog, from video and blog
- webcast, from Worldwide Web and broadcast
- webinar, from Worldwide Web and seminar
- webisode, from Worldwide Web and episode
- Wintel, from Windows and Intel
Marketing
- advertainment, from advertising and entertainment
- advertorial, from advertising and editorial
- biopic, from biographical and motion picture
- cineplex, from cinema and complex (building)
- docudrama, from documentary and drama
- docusoap, from documentary and soap opera (serialised drama)
- dramedy, from drama and comedy
- edutainment, from education and entertainment
- infomercial, from information and commercial
- infotainment, from information and entertainment
- multiplex, from multiple and complex! - this word has a different meaning in telecommunications
- shockumentary, from documentary and shock
Art, literature and entertainment
- Animatrix, from animated and Matrix
- arfé, from art and café
- Bollywood, from Bombay and Hollywood
- Brangelina, from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
- britcom, from British and comedy (see also: sitcom)
- cassingle, from cassette and single
- dramedy, from drama and comedy
- 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
- mockumentary, from mock and documentary
- Orgasmatron, from orgasm and electron(ic) -, from Woody Allen's Sleeper
- Policenauts, from police and astronaut
- Religulous, from religion and ridiculous
- 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 backronym, meaning 'Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage')
- slurve, form slider and curve (baseball pitches)
- 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
- TomKat, from Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
Organizations and companies
- Accenture, from accent and future (accent on the future)
- Alstom, from Alsace and Thompson-Houston. First spelled "Alsthom", the h is removed in 2008 (the company was named GEC-Alsthom at the time)
- Amtrak, from American and track
- Bakerloo Line, from Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, coined by London's Evening News in 1906.
- Carborundum, from carbon and corundum
- Clamato, from clam and tomato juice
- Compaq, from compatibility and quality
- CONMEBOL, from Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (Spanish for "South American Football Confederation")
- CONELRAD
- ConDem, from Conservative and Democrats. A collective name for the 2010 UK coalition government between the Conservative and the Liberal Democrat Party
- Copa, from compania and Panamena
- Debian, from founder Ian Murdock and his wife Debra
- Edexcel, from educational and excellence
- FedEx, from the company's original name, Federal Express
- Fluidrive, from fluid and drive
- Groupon, from group and coupon
- Intel, from integrated and electronics
- Latam, from Lan Airlines and TAM
- 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
- Travelocity, from travel and velocity
- 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
Animal
- beefalo, from beef and buffalo (progeny of)
- Brangus, from Brahman and Angus breeds of cattle (progeny of)
- geep, from goat and sheep (progeny of)
- liger, from lion and tiger (progeny of male lion and tigress) cf. tiglon/tigon below
- tigon, from tiger and lion (progeny of tiger and lioness) cf. liger above
- turducken, from turkey, duck, and chicken (a culinary dish)
- zeedonk, from zebra and donkey (progeny of)
- wallaroo, from wallaby and kangaroo
- wholphin, from whale and dolphin
Others
- austerical, from austerity and hysterical
- Boxrec, from boxing and records
- Chokebreaker, from chokeslam and backbreaker
- tomacco, from tomato and tobacco