It’s possible to combine two words into one when you want to convey a specific meaning relating to both. You can turn something like “list” and “article” into “listicle.” This article will explore the best terms you can use to combine two words into one.
The best terms for combining two words into one are “blend word,” “blending,” and “portmanteau word.” These are the best ways to refer to a word that’s been made out of two completely different words. It’s a great way to show that both words impact the new word’s meaning.
1. Blend Word
“Blend word” is a great phrase to use when words are combined into one. It’s an informal construct, allowing you to create new words based on the fundamental sounds and letters that come from two completely different words.
For example, a “blend word” would be “brunch.” It takes “breakfast” and “lunch” and combines the two words into one. This is an efficient way of using both words more recognisably.
“Blending” is the official term for combining words in this way.
It works best informally because you need to overlook specific grammatical rules to accept certain blend words. For example, “frenemy” means “friend” and “enemy.” It’s not an official word, but it’s widely regarded and understood because of how common the blend is.
The definition of “blend word,” according to The Cambridge Dictionary, is “a word formed by combining two other words.”
- I think they called it “chillaxation.” It’s a blend word combining “chill” and “relaxation.” I think it has a ring to it.
- What is it with all these blend words becoming more popular? I’m not sure I can keep up with the youth of today and their lingo.
- I thought of a few new blend words that could work quite well in these contexts. Let me know which ones you like the best.
2. Blending
“Blending” is the term used when combining two words into a shorter form. You can use it to refer to the action of grouping two words as “blending” is the verb gerund form.
“Blend word” is the noun form, and “blending” is the verb. They both mean the same thing. They allow you to group words to create smaller, informal words and phrases that help you get your point across more efficiently.
- Blending words is super easy. You can say something like “sitcom” or “cosplay.” They take little bits and create big words.
- I love blending words to create new ideas. It’s always exciting to come up with words that nobody has thought of before.
- Blending words is a lot of fun when you know what you’re doing. You should try it sometime to see if it works for you.
3. Portmanteau Word
“Portmanteau word” is a great way to refer to two combined words. It has a French origin relating to a suitcase that opens in two equal parts.
“Portmanteau” is French for “carry case” or “suitcase.” It refers to a suitcase that can be opened into two equal parts. It evolved to mean that two words could combine to create a new word and hold a new meaning that takes equal parts from the original word.
It’s a very common way to refer to a blended word. You could combine something like “jeans” and “leggings” into the popular portmanteau word “jeggings.” It takes an equal meaning from both original words to create a new one.
Nowadays, “portmanteau” is much more common to refer to combined words rather than a suitcase. Most native speakers know it as the phrase used when words like “brunch” or “jeggings” are created.
The definition of “portmanteau word,” according to The Cambridge Dictionary, is “a word formed by combining two other words.”
- What portmanteau words do you know? I’ve heard “biopic” lately, and I’ve been pronouncing it wrong for the longest time!
- I think you should come up with a portmanteau word for that. It’s too wordy, and people will remember it easier if it is shortened.
- This portmanteau word comes from “drama” and “comedy.” A “dramedy” is a great form of theatre that you must watch!
4. Coining
“Coining” is a great phrase to use when new words are developed. It doesn’t refer to combining two words, but it allows you to “coin” a new word if you’ve made one yourself.
For example, if you combine “breakfast” and “lunch” into “brunch,” you could “coin” that word. However, it only applies when you are the first person to do it. Since “brunch” is already accepted as a portmanteau word, you can’t “coin” it yourself.
That doesn’t mean you can’t try to find other words that you can “coin.” There’s no limit to what words you can combine.
- I’m coining a new word from these two. It’s stupid to have to say them individually after all this time.
- You should try coining your own blend of the words. I think it’ll be really interesting to come up with something new.
- He’s managed to coin that word on his own. I was quite surprised that he was able to be that creative with it.
5. Compounding
“Compounding” refers to combining two words into one. However, it works very differently from the other words in this article. You need to know the difference before using “compounding” correctly.
“Compounding” takes two full words and combines them without removing any letters. For example, “back” and “drop” can compound to become “backdrop.”
You cannot call it “compounding” when combining two words into a more informal word (i.e. “chill” and “relax” becoming “chillax” is not compounding).
“Compounding” is the official grammatical term used when two words combine to become a compound noun or adjective. You might also find a hyphen comes between the words (mainly when using adjectives).
- Compounding words only work when you need them to be in the same breath. Something like “football” or “cupcake” works here.
- You should try compounding those words. They’re used together enough times that people expect them to be written like that.
- I’m not sure what compounding those words is going to do for the sentence. You should try something else.
Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.
I am international engineering student studying in US. I have a question regarding words that are created as a result of joining two words. Usually this happens when two technologies or methodologies are used to create something unique (I am particularly interested in fusion of two words based on abstract ideas or technology). The confusion I have currently is «How to decide the proper word fusion?»
For example: Testbed vs test bed, feedforward vs feed forward vs feed-forward, etc.
I have this confusion because certain authors use certain fusion words. I would like to know if there is a universal rule or any guidance when I have to combine two words indicating abstract concepts.
tchrist♦
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asked Jul 8, 2015 at 16:52
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We call the «single words» you’re talking about compound words.
It sounds like you’re torn between creating closed and open compound words. The way to choose is to look at what other people are doing. The English language is always being reshaped by how we use it, so while «living room» might be two words today, who knows what will happen in 10 years!
In technical writing, readability always comes first. Choose whatever you think will make your writing more clear and understandable.
answered Jul 8, 2015 at 17:07
scohe001scohe001
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Compounding or composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. That is, in familiar terms, compounding occurs when two or more words are joined to make one longer word.
The meaning of the compound may be similar to or different from the meanings of its components in isolation. The component stems of a compound may be of the same part of speech—as in the case of the English word footpath, composed of the two nouns foot and path—or they may belong to different parts of speech, as in the case of the English word blackbird, composed of the adjective black and the noun bird.
Formation of compounds
Compound formation rules vary widely across language types. Compounds can be rather long when translating technical documents from English to some other language, since the lengths of the words are theoretically unlimited, especially in chemical terminology.
endocentric: A+B denotes a special kind of B
Eg: darkroom, smalltalk
exocentric: A+B denotes a special kind of an unexpressed semantic head
Eg: skinhead, paleface (head: ‘person’)
copulative: A+B denotes ‘the sum’ of what A and B denot
Eg: bittersweet, sleepwalk
appositional: A and B provide different descriptions for the same referent
Eg: actor-director, maidservant
answered Jul 8, 2015 at 17:08
JimmyJimmy
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It should be noted that there is «portmanteau», a piece of luggage that opens into two halves. This word has been «borrowed» (thanks to Lewis Carroll) to describe a word that is composed of parts of two other words, such as «motel» being derived from «motor hotel». https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau
answered Dec 11, 2020 at 14:05
Hot LicksHot Licks
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What is a Compound Word?
Before you went to bed last night, did you brush your teeth?
If so, what did you use to brush your teeth?
Most likely you used a toothbrush.
The word toothbrush is made up of two words: TOOTH and BRUSH. It’s a compound word.
Compound words are all around you. Maybe you take a bath in a bathtub, put your dishes in a dishwasher, or carry your books in a backpack. All of these are compound words too.
A compound word is a word made when you join two or more words to form a new word.
For example:
The words BIRTH and DAY are joined to make the word BIRTHDAY.
The words HEAD and ACHE are joined to make the word HEADACHE.
There are three forms of compound words:
- Closed form
- Hyphenated form
- Open form
Closed form compound words include words such as toothbrush, backpack, and birthday, where the two words are stuck together to make a new word.
Hyphenated form compound words includes words such as part-time, merry-go-round, and mother-in-law, where the words are joined together with a hyphen.
Open form compound words include words such as hot dog, ice cream, and North America, where an adjective is combined with a noun to create a word with new meaning, but the individual words still have a space between them.
Forming Compound Words
When you form a compound word, you’re combining two words to make a new word. This means that each part of the compound word has to be an actual word.
Take a look at the word SANDWICH which is made up of SAND + WICH. Sand is a word, but wich is not, so sandwich is not a compound word.
When the two words in a compound word are combined, they also get a new meaning.
So you wouldn’t combine the words TURKEY and SANDWICH to create the word TURKEYSANDWICH because it would have the same meaning when combine.
You could, however, combine the words HOT and DOG to create the word HOTDOG, which becomes a type of food, not an actual dog that is hot.
You could combine the words South and America to make South America, which is a specific continent, not just the southern part of America.
You could also combine the words MOTHER, IN, and LAW to create the word MOTHER-IN-LAW, which is the name of your spouse’s mother, not just a mother connected with the law.
How can you tell which form a compound word should use?
It can be kind of tricky and there’s no way to always tell for sure, but here are a few guidelines to follow:
- If the word combines an adjective and a noun or is used as an adjective before a noun, it will have a hyphen.
For example:
He added one-half cup of flour or the bright-eyed baby smiled.
- If two words combine to create a completely new word with a completely new meaning, they are stuck together using the closed form.
For example:
I want to catch fireflies or we should go to the zoo sometime.
- If it is understood without being combined, it can probably work as a compound word in the open form.
For example:
We like to eat chocolate chip cookies or they go to high school.
When in doubt, look in the dictionary to see how the word is correctly written. If it’s not included in the dictionary as a closed form or hyphenated form compound word, then you should write it using open form.
Using Compound Words
Now let’s practice using compound words.
Read each of the descriptions and see if you can guess which compound word should be used.
- If you want to build a house for your dog, what will you build?
- Where will you go if you want to fly on an airplane?
- If you need to turn around on the road, what will you do?
- Where will you go if you want to play tennis?
Want to know the answers?
- You will build your dog a doghouse.
- You will go to the airport to fly on an airplane.
- You will make a U-turn if you need to turn around on the road.
- You will go to a tennis court if you want to play tennis.
Now let’s look at compound words used in sentences. See if you can correctly pick out the compound words in each sentence.
- The basketball bounced on the basketball court.
- I high-fived my teammates after winning the game.
- Sometimes I like to sit on the couch and play video games.
- My teacher asked me to find the square root of the area of the two-dimensional shape.
How do you think you did?
- The BASKETBALL bounced on the BASKETBALL COURT.
- I HIGH-FIVED my TEAMMATES after winning the game.
- SOMETIMES I like to sit on the couch and play VIDEO GAMES.
- My teacher asked me to find the SQUARE ROOT of the area of the TWO-DIMENSIONAL shape.
Common Compound Words
The best way to recognize compound words when you see them and know how to write them is to learn as many compound words as possible. Here’s a list of common compound words.
Open Form Compound Words
Living room, baseball field, real estate, walking stick, safety glasses, North America, United States, African American, theme park, vacuum cleaner, root beer, rocking horse, role play, rock band, school year, web site, elementary school, junk food, Fourth of July, jungle gym, past tense, post office, police officer, cell phone, dump truck, light bulb, life jacket
Hyphenated Compound Words
Sister-in-law, on-time, custom-built, well-known, up-to-date, build-up, eight-year-old, Y-shaped, x-ray, sit-in, tie-in, twenty-one, two-sided, three-sided, one-third, light-year, know-it-all, make-believe, boogie-woogie, pitter-patter, walkie-talkie, jack-in-the-box, bull’s-eye, high-level, well-made
Closed Form Compound Words
Backyard, football, softball, daydream, handshake, toothpaste, worldwide, necklace, playground, campground, firefly, horseback, waterfall, teaspoon, tablespoon, seafood, sidewalk, skyscraper, racetrack, earthquake, firecracker, shipwreck, tombstone, sunrise, windmill, shoelace, keyboard, password, flashlight, bathroom, suntan, pineapple, ponytail, peanut, notebook, outside, homework
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 |
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∙ 13y ago
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I think it is compound words..
examples:bathroom,bedroom,worksheet,ladybug
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