Examples of word formation blending

Learn More With These Definitions and Examples

Updated on February 05, 2020

A word blend is formed by combining two separate words with different meanings to form a new one. These words are often created to describe a new invention or phenomenon that combines the definitions or traits of two existing things.

Word Blends and Their Parts

Word blends are also known as portmanteau (pronunciation port-MAN-toe), a French word meaning «trunk» or «suitcase.» Author Lewis Carroll is credited with coining this term in «Through the Looking-Glass,» published in 1871. In that book, Humpty Dumpty tells Alice about making up new words from parts of existing ones:

«You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word.»

There are different ways of creating word blends. One way is to combine portions of two other words to make a new one. These word fragments are called morphemes, the smallest units of meaning in a language. The word «camcorder,» for example,» combines parts of «camera» and «recorder.» Word blends can also be created by joining a full word with a portion of another word (called a splinter). For example, the word «motorcade» combines «motor» plus a portion of «cavalcade.»

Word blends can also be formed by overlapping or combining phonemes, which are parts of two words that sound alike. One example of an overlapping word blend is «Spanglish,» which is an informal mix of spoken English and Spanish. Blends can also be formed through the omission of phonemes. Geographers sometimes refer to «Eurasia,» the landmass that combines Europe and Asia. This blend is formed by taking the first syllable of «Europe» and adding it to the word «Asia.»

The Blend Trend

English is a dynamic language that is constantly evolving. Many of the words in the English language are derived from ancient Latin and Greek or from other European languages such as German or French. But starting in the 20th century, blended words began to emerge to describe new technologies or cultural phenomena. For instance, as dining out became more popular, many restaurants began serving a new weekend meal in the late morning. It was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch, so someone decided to make a new word that described a meal that was a little bit of both. Thus, «brunch» was born.

As new inventions changed the way people lived and worked, the practice of combining parts of words to make new ones became popular. In the 1920s, as traveling by car became more common, a new kind of hotel that catered to drivers emerged. These «motor hotels» quickly proliferated and became known as «motels.» In 1994, when a rail tunnel beneath the English Channel opened, connecting France and Great Britain, it quickly became known as the «Chunnel,» a word blend of «Channel» and «tunnel.»

New word blends are being created all the time as cultural and technological trends emerge. In 2018, Merriam-Webster added the word «mansplaining» to their dictionary. This blended word, which combines «man» and «explaining,» was coined to describe the habit that some men have of explaining things in a condescending manner.

Examples

Here are some examples of word blends and their roots:

Blended word	Root word 1	Root word 2
agitprop	agitation	propaganda
bash	bat	mash
biopic	biography	picture
Breathalyzer	breath	analyzer
clash	clap	crash
docudrama	documentary	drama
electrocute	electricity	execute
emoticon	emotion	icon
fanzine	fan	magazine
frenemy	friend	enemy
Globish	global	English
infotainment	information	entertainment
moped	motor	pedal
pulsar	pulse	quasar
sitcom	situation	comedy
sportscast	sports	broadcast
staycation	stay	vacation
telegenic	television	photogenic
workaholic	work	alcoholic

Источник

Blendings
(blends,
fusions or
portmanteau
words) may
be defined as formation that combine two words and include the
letters or sounds they have in common as a connecting element:

bio (logical) +
(electro)nic →
bionic

wash +
(caf)eteria →
washeteria

sk(ateboard) +
(s)urfing →
skurflng

slim+gymnastics →
slimnastics;

miserable+flimsy →
mimsy;

gallop+triumph →
galumph;

new+utopia →
neutopia

UA. банківський
+ автомат
→ банкомат

The process of formation is
also called telescoping.
The analysis into immediate constituents is
helpful in
so far as it permits the definition of a blend as a word with the
first constituent represented by a stem whose final part may be
missing, and the second constituent by a stem of which the initial
part is missing. The second constituent when used in a series of
similar blends may turn into a suffix. A new suffix -on
is, for
instance, well under way in such terms as nylon,
rayon, formed
from the final element of cotton.

Depending
upon the prototype phrases with which they can be correlated two
types of blends can be distinguished. One may be termed additive,
the second restrictive.
Both involve the sliding together not only of sound but of meaning as
well. Yet the semantic relations which are at work are different.

The
additive type,
is transformable into a phrase consisting of the respective complete
stems combined by the conjunction and:

smoke
and
fog
→ smog − a
mixture of smoke and fog.

The elements may be
synonymous, belong to the same semantic field or at least be members
of the same lexico-grammatical class of words:

French+English
→ Frenglish;

smoke+haze
→ smaze;

Panjab+Afghania+Kashmir+Singh+Baluchistan
→ Pakistan;

breakfast
and
lunch
→ brunch

transmitter
and
receiver
→ transceiver

The
restrictive type
is transformable into an attributive phrase where the
first element serves as modifier of the second:

cine(matographic
pano) rama
→ cinerama.

medical
care → medicare

positive
electron → positron

television
broadcast → telecast

An
interesting variation of the same type is presented by cases of
superposition,
formed by pairs of words having similar clusters of sounds which seem
to provoke blending:

motorists’
hotel →motel;

sham
bamboo (imitation
bamboo) →
shamboo;

slang
+language
→ slanguage;

spiced ham → spam.

Blends,
although not very numerous altogether, seem to be on the rise,
especially in terminology and also in trade advertisements:
Reaganomics»
Irangate, blackspiloitation, workaholic, foodoholic, scanorama etc..

7.2. Back-formation.

Back-formation
(also
called reversion)
is a term borrowed from
diachronic linguistics. It denotes the derivation of new words by
subtracting a real or supposed affix from existing words through
misinterpretation of their structure.

The earliest examples of
this type of word-building are the verb to
beg that
was made from the French borrowing beggar,
to burgle from
burglar, to
cobble from
cobbler. In
all these cases the verb was made from the noun by subtracting what
was mistakenly associated with the English suffix -er.
The
pattern of the type to
work —
worker was
firmly established in the subconscious of English-speaking people at
the time when these formations appeared, and it was taken for granted
that any noun denoting profession or occupation is certain to have a
corresponding verb of the same root. So, in the case of the verbs to
beg, to burgle, to cobble the
process was reversed: instead of a noun made from a verb by
affixation (as in
painter from
to paint),
a verb was
produced from a noun by subtraction. That is why this type of
word-building received the name of back-formation
or
reversion.

Later examples of
back-formation are to butle
from
butler, to
baby-sit from
baby-sitter,
to force-land from
forced
landing, to blood-transfuse from
blood-transfuing.

Back formation is mostly
active in compound verbs, and is combined with word-composition. The
basis of this type of word-building are compound words and
word-combinations having verbal nouns, gerunds, participles or other
derivative nouns as their second component (rush-development,
finger-printing, well-wisher).
These compounds and word-combinations are wrongly considered to be
formed from compound verbs which are nonexistent in reality. This
gives a rise to such verbs as; to
rush-develop, to finger-print, to well-wish.

Structural
changes taking place in back-formation became possible because of
semantic changes that preceded them. The change of meaning resulted
in demotivation, and this paved the way for phonic changes, i.e.
assimilation, loss of sound and the like, which in their turn led to
morphemic alternations that became meaningful. Semantic changes often
influence the morphological structure by modifying the relations
between stems and derivational affixes. Structural changes, in their
turn, depend on the combined effect of demotivation and analogy
conditioned by a higher frequency of occurrence of the pattern that
serves as model. Provided all other conditions are equal, words
following less frequent structural patterns are readily subjected to
changes on the analogy of more frequent patterns.

The
very high frequency of the pattern verb
stem+-er
(or
its equivalents) is a matter of common knowledge.

Back-formation
may be also based on the analogy of inflectional forms as testified
by the singular nouns pea
and
cherry.
Pea (the
plural of which is peas
and
also pease)
is
from ME pese<OE
pise, peose<Lat pisa, pl.
of pesum.
The
ending -s
being
the most frequent mark of the plural in English, English speakers
thought that sweet
peas(e) was
a plural and turned the combination peas(e)
soup into
pea
soup. Cherry is
from OFr cerise,
and
the -se
was
dropped for exactly the same reason.

The
most productive type of back-formation in
present-day English is
derivation of
verbs
from
compounds that have either -er
or
-ing
as
their last element:

thought-reading
n
→ thought-reader
n
→ thought-read
v;

air-conditioning
n
→ air-conditioner
n
→
air-condition
v;

turbo-supercharger
n.
→
turbo-supercharge
v

Other
examples of back-formations from compounds
are the verbs baby-sit,
beachcomb, house-break, house-clean, house-keep,
red-bait, tape-record etc.

The
semantic relationship between the prototype and the derivative is
regular. Baby-sit,
for
example, means to act or become employed as a baby-sitter, that is to
take care of children for short periods of time while the parents are
away from home.

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Источник

Have you ever wondered how new words are created in English? This topic relates to neologism, which refers to how new words are created, or how existing words are given new meanings.

Today we will be focusing on examples of word blends, a specific type of neologism. We will explain blends, look at why we blend words, and give some examples. As you read through the article, consider how many blended words you are already familiar with!

What are different types of neologisms?

There are lots of different ways to create new words that are not limited to our examples of word blends; here are some below:

Derivation — adding prefixes or suffixes to existing words.
Back-formation — the opposite of derivation; removing a prefix or suffix from an existing word.
Compounding — two existing words that are either hyphenated or formed into one word.
Repurposing — taking a word that is in a certain context and putting it into a different context.
Conversion — taking a word that is in a certain word class and using it as another word class.
Eponyms — words that are named after places or people.
Loanwords — words that are borrowed from other languages.
Onomatopoeia — words that are created by imitating a sound.
Reduplication — words or sounds in words that are repeated (either fully or partially).
Occasionalism — words that are invented for a particular occasion in which there is not already an existing word.
Error — words that are created as a result of misspellings or mispronunciations.
Clipping (truncation) — part of a longer word is removed to create a new, shorter word with the same meaning.
Abbreviations — this refers to the shortening of a longer word.

And finally, the focus of this article: blends.

What are blends?

In terms of English grammar, blends refer to words that are formed by taking parts of two different words and putting them together to create a new word. Think of blending up two fruits to make a smoothie… But do that with words instead!

Fig. 1 — Take words and blend them together!

Unlike some ways of forming words that don’t change the meaning (such as clipping or abbreviating), blending two words together creates a new word with a different meaning. If you are aware of the separate words that are used to create a blend, you will be more likely to understand the meaning of the new word, as it usually combines the meanings of the two existing words!

A synonym for a blend word is a portmanteau, a term coined by author Lewis Carroll to describe the combining of two words.

What are the different types of blends?

There are two different types of word blends.

Types of word blends	Description
1. Total Blends	Taking different parts of words and combining them to make a new one.
2. Partial Blends	Taking a whole word and combining it with part of another word.

The first type we will look at is often referred to as total blends, as they involve taking different parts of words and combining them to create a new one.

The first way to create a total blend is to take the beginning of one word and merge it with the end of another. Here are some examples of total word blends:

Breakfast + Lunch = Brunch

Brunch is a meal eaten in the late morning, combining a late breakfast and an early lunch.

Global + English = Globish

Globish refers to a simplified form of English used to help non-native speakers.

Another way of creating a total blend is to take the beginning of one word and join it with the beginning of another. For example:

Situation + Comedy = Sitcom

Sitcom is a genre of comedy programme that usually involves the same characters in each episode.

Motor + Pedaler = Moped

Moped is a type of small motorbike.

As opposed to total blends, we can also create partial blends. This means taking a whole word and combining it with part of another word. For example:

Stay + Vacation = Staycation

A staycation is a holiday from home.

Dumb + Confound = Dumbfound

Used to describe a feeling of amazement.

Blends can also be created by overlapping words, where two parts of each word contain the same letter(s). For example:

Smoke + Fog = Smog

Smog is a smoky fog; usually refers to air pollution.

Motor + Hotel = Motel

A motel is a hotel for people who travel by car.

Why do we blend words?

There are different reasons for blending words. Here are a few examples!

For ease of communication.

For example, instead of saying “I’m getting my camera recorder”, you could say “I’m getting my camcorder”.

Or, instead of saying “I’m filming a video blog”, you could say “I’m filming a vlog.”

The word ‘blog’ itself is a blend of ‘web’ and ‘log’.

To describe something new that is similar to two existing things or ideas, but does not have its own word yet.

For example, the combination of the words ‘spoon’ and ‘fork’ create the blend ‘spork’. A spork is a utensil that resembles a mixture of both a spoon and a fork.

Or, the combination of ‘jeans’ and ‘leggings’ creates ‘jeggings’, which are leggings that are made to look like jeans.

To create popular words or phrases that can become a trend or be used by the mass public.

In particular, words can now often become trendy through social media, creating a sense of community on the internet and gaining global popularity.

Fig. 2 — Blends are often used on social media.

For example, the word ‘hangry‘ is a popular informal term combining the words ‘hungry’ and ‘angry’. It is used to describe the feeling of being hungry and angry at the same time.

Or the term ‘shopaholic‘, which combines the words ‘shop’ and ‘alcoholic’ to refer to someone who shops to excess, or possibly becomes addicted to shopping!

Blends — Key takeaways

Blends are words that are formed by taking parts of two different words and putting them together to create a new word.
Blending two words together creates a new word with a different meaning. This is different to some other ways of word formation (e.g. clipping, abbreviations) in which the meanings do not change.
There are two different types of blends: total and partial.
Blended words can also overlap with one another (contain the same letters in each individual word).
We blend words for ease of communication, to create new terms for things/ideas that are similar to existing things, and to create trendy words that can go mainstream.

Источник

Blending:

In English, Blending is a word-formation process in which
parts of two or more words combine to create a new word. Words that are
formed when two or more words are combined to form new words have some of
the properties of each of the original words. Therefore, combining two or
more words creates a new word that refers to something that has some
properties of the original words.

We already have many blend words in the English language, and even more
blend words are being created every day. English being a dynamic language
that is constantly evolving, many more new blend words are being added.

Following is a list of 15+ popular blend words:

brunch = breakfast + lunch
biopic = biography + picture
glimmer = gleam + shimmer
camcorder = camera + recorder
motel = motor + hotel
sitcom = situation + comedy
clash = clap + crash
smash = smack + mash
workaholic = work + alcoholic
moped = motor + pedal
pulsar = pulse + quasar
globish = global + English
faction = fact + fiction
docudrama = documentary + drama
sportscast = sports + broadcast

Try our online
practice test on blend words

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Word Blends and Their Parts

The Blend Trend

Examples

7.2. Back-formation.

What are different types of neologisms?

What are blends?

What are the different types of blends?

Why do we blend words?

For ease of communication.

To describe something new that is similar to two existing things or ideas, but does not have its own word yet.

To create popular words or phrases that can become a trend or be used by the mass public.

Blends — Key takeaways

Blending:

See Also:

English Grammar:

Physics:

Biology: