Word blends in english

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

Tip: See my list of the Most Common Mistakes in English. It will teach you how to avoid mis­takes with com­mas, pre­pos­i­tions, ir­reg­u­lar verbs, and much more.

English speakers are very creative when it comes to making up new words by combining parts of words that already exist. For example, most people know that “brunch” is a combination of “breakfast” and “lunch”, but did you know that “smog” comes from “smoke” and “fog”?

There are lots and lots of such words in English, many more than in other European languages. One of the reasons for that is, of course, that English has many more speakers than other European languages (with the exception of Spanish), so there are more people who can potentially create a catchy new word.

Nevertheless, I believe that the main reason is much more pragmatic. English is a fairly analytic language, which in linguistic jargon refers to a language that, simply put, conveys the function of a word using word order and things like prepositions rather than endings and prefixes. Words in English are thought of as isolated units, whereas words in other European languages often carry additional information, and it is much easier to merge two isolated units than to merge two words carrying a lot of additional information, some of which would inevitably be lost during merging.

But enough of that theoretical nonsense. Let’s take a look at actual examples of such words in English.

English portmanteaus

A portmanteau is a type of blend word in which the beginning of one word is combined with the final part of another word. For example, it may surprise you that the word “bit” used in computing (as in “megabit”) is a portmanteau of ”binary” and “digit” (its development was probably influenced by the fact that “bit” already was an English word meaning a small amount of something). Sometimes the two parts may overlap, e.g. “smash”, which is composed of “smack” and “mash” with “ma” connecting the two parts.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common portmanteaus in English that are more or less accepted (note that the list excludes brand and product names, which are often based on a portmanteau):

alphanumeric = alphabetic + numeric
advertorial = advertisement +‎ editorial
bit = binary + digit (only in computing)
brainiac = brain + maniac
breathalyzer = breath + analyzer
Brexit = Britain + exit
brunch = breakfast + lunch
camcorder = camera + recorder
dumbfound = dumb (mute) + confound
electrocute = electro- + execute
email = electronic + mail
emoticon = emotion + icon
endorphin = endogenous + morphine
fanzine = fan + magazine
forex = foreign + exchange
guesstimate = guess + estimate
infomercial = information + commercial
keytar = keyboard + guitar
labradoodle = labrador + poodle
mechatronics = mechanics +‎ electronics
metrosexual = metropolitan +‎ heterosexual
moped = motor + pedals (borrowed from Swedish)
motel = motor + hotel
napalm = naphthenic + palmitic
Oxbridge = Oxford + Cambridge (used in the UK to refer collectively to the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge)
newscast = news + broadcast
paratrooper = parachute + troop + -er
phablet = phone + tablet
pulsar = pulsating + star
sexting = sex + texting
sheeple = sheep + people
smash = smack +‎ mash
smog = smoke + fog
Spanglish = Spanish + English
televangelist = television + evangelist
transistor = transconductance or transfer + resistor
vlog = video + blog (itself a shortening of web + log)
vitamin = vital + amine (introduced by a Polish biochemist when it was thought that all vitamins contained an amino acid)
webinar = web + seminar
workaholic = work + -a- + alcoholic

There is also an archaic word “cameleopard”, composed of “camel” and “leopard”, which means “giraffe”. If you are interested in the history of that word (and of the word “giraffe”), you can read my article about them.

Blend words combining the beginnings of two words

Another type of blend words, which are less common than portmanteaus in English, is formed by taking the first part of one word, the first part of another word, and merging them into one word. Here are the most common such words:

Amerind = American + Indian (referring to native Americans)
botox = botulism + toxin
cyborg = cybernetic + organism
cosplay = costume + play
hazmat = hazardeous + mataterial
modem = modulator + demodulator
sitcom = situation + comedy

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Like all languages, the English language is constantly evolving, changing and having new words added. One of the ways new words are added to English is by creating “blended words.”  These are some of my favorite English words!

Blended words are a lot of fun if you ask me. To make a blended English word you take two existing words and combine the letters in a way to make a new word.  The new word then represents a combination of the sounds and meanings of the two original words, but has its own unique meaning too!

Making blended words sounds like fun right? Some blended words in English are so common, most native English speakers forget they are a combination of two existing words. A lot of blended words in English started out, or still remain, slang/informal words, but some blended words have worked their way into dictionaries and common use.

One of the reasons I like blended words so much is because they show linguistic creativity! Blended words are symbols of how languages grow, change, and reflect current culture.

Here are is a list of common blended words in English:

blog (web + log) = a regularly updated website, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style – this is a BLOG!

brunch (breakfast + lunch) = a large meal eaten at a time between breakfast and lunch, replacing the two meals with one instead. (Eating brunch is very common on weekend days in America.)

cyborg (cybernetic + organism) = a hypothetical human being with physical abilities that are beyond a normal human because mechanical elements have been built into the body.

emoticon (emotion + icon) = keyboard symbols used to represent facial expression such as :  –  ) = 🙂

frenemy (friend + enemy) = a person who is a friend even though there is an underlying dislike or rivalry in the relationship

glamping (glamorous + camping) =  high class camping, often in cabins or indoor structures, instead of tents, with many modern amenities, such as electricity, running water, cable TV and internet

humongous (huge + monstrous) = very big, both of these words mean large so putting the two words together indicates that something is extremely big

Internet (international + network) = the global communication network that allows computers around the world to connect and share information

mocktail (mock + cocktail) = a cocktail that has no alcohol in it, mock = fake, so this is like a fake cocktail

motel (motor + hotel) = a building with accommodations, meals, and other services for travelers, often (or originally) found along motorways or highways as opposed to in towns

smog (smoke + fog) = air pollutant often found in large cities

Spanglish (Spanish + English) = a mix of words and idioms from both Spanish and English, often used by people who know both languages well

spork (spoon + fork) = an eating utensil that is shaped like both a spoon and fork, often has a rounded spoon shape with short prongs at the end like a fork

staycation (stay + vacation) = a budget-friendly alternative to a vacation in which people stay at home during their time off from work

All of these words are somewhat resent additions to the English language, they are newly made words, from two existing words. This doesn’t mean though that we can all make up our own blended words and expect people to know what we are talking about. For example, I could make up the word: shandal (shoe + sandal), but no one would know what I’m talking about because it just isn’t an accepted or used blended word in English. So, for know we have to just use those blended words that are already out there (like those listed above) and wait to see what others develop over time. Who know, maybe shandal will someday be added to the list!

08.07.2021

Английский язык постоянно развивается и обогащается новыми словами и выражениями. Англичане становятся довольно изобретательными ребятами, когда речь заходит о создании новых слов. Вы наверняка замечали в английском языке слова, которые состоят из других слов. Такие слова в английском языке получили названия blend words (от английского «blend» — смесь, смешение) или portmanteau words (от французского «чемодан»).

В русском языке есть несколько названий для подобного словообразования: слова-гибриды, смешанные слова, портмонто, слова-бумажники.

Смешанные слова могут появляться путем слияния начала одного слова и окончания другого слова. Например, английское слово «motel» (мотель) произошло от смешения начальной части слова «motor» (мотор) и окончания слова «hotel» (отель). Еще один способ образования слов-гибридов – это соединение начальной части одного слова и начальной части другого слова. К примеру, слово «sitcom» (ситком) образовалось путем объединения начальной части слова «situation» (ситуация) и начала слова «comedy» (комедия). Таким образом, два слова или части слов сливаются, образуя слово с новым значением, однако новое слово содержит лексическия значения двух слов, из которых оно возникло.

Давайте посмотрим на примеры таких слов в английском языке:

• Brexit (брексит, выход Великобритании из Евросоюза) = Britain (Великобритания) + exit (выход)
• Brunch (бранч, поздник завтрак) = breakfast (завтрак) + lunch (обед)
• Chugger (чаггер, уличный сборщик пожертвований на благотворительность) = charity (благотворительность) + mugger (уличный грабитель)
• Chunnel (транспортный тоннель под проливом Ла-Манш) = channel (канал, пролив) + tunnel (тоннель)
• Clash (столкновение, грохот) = clap (хлопок, удар) + crash (авария, удар)
• Cosplay (косплей) = costume (костюм) + play (игра)
• Email (электронная почта) = electronic (электронный) + mail (почта)
• Jeggings (джеггинсы) = jeans (джинсы) + leggings (леггинсы)
• Kidult (кидалт, взрослый ребенок) = kid (ребенок) + adult (взрослый)
• Moobs (избыточный вес на груди мужчин) = man (мужчина) + boobs (женская грудь)
• Motel (мотель) = motor (мотор, двигатель) + hotel (отель)
• Motorcade (автоколонна, автомобильный кортеж) = motor (мотор, двигатель) + cavalcade (группа всадников)
• Oxbridge (Оксбридж, университеты Оксфорда и Кембриджа) = Oxford (Оксфорд) + Cambridge (Кембридж)
• Romcom (романическая комедия) = romantic (романический) + comedy (комедия)
• Runglish (смешение русского и английского языков) = Russian (русский язык) + English (английский язык)
• Satnav (спутниковая навигация) = satellite (спутник) + navigation (навигация)
• Sitcom (ситком, ситуационная комедия) = situation (ситуация, положение) + comedy (комедия)
• Slanguage (сленг, жаргонная речь) = slang (сленг) + language (язык)
• Smog (смог) = smoke (дым) + fog (туман)
• Spanglish (смесь испанского и английского языков) = Spain (Испания) + English (английский язык)
• Vlog (видеоблог) = video (видео) + blog (блог)
• Vodcast (водкаст, видеофайлы в интернете) = video (видео) + podcast (подкаст, аудиофайлы в интернет)
• Webinar (вебинар, интернет-конференция) = web (веб, сеть) + seminar (семинар)
• Webzine (интернет-журнал) = web (веб, сеть) + magazine (журнал)

Вы наверняка слышали еще один яркий пример слияния: слово «Brangelina» (BradPitt + AngelinaJolie). Такое слияние возникает, когда пару воспринимают вместе, как одно целое.

Благодаря блендингу в английском языке можно встретить большое количество новых слов. Такой способ словообразования очень характерен именно для английского языка.  Популярность blendwords нетрудно объяснять: такие слова легко создавать. Смешивание слов расширяет язык, добавляя в него новые интересные слова. В последние годы отмечается увеличение количества смешанных слов и значительная часть таких слов используется в сфере интернета и технологий. 

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What is a blended word?

Also known as a portmanteau, blended words are created by combining two existing words into a new one. These words are a type of slang, yet many end up in the dictionary. 

Chances are that you’ve used—or at least heard of—a few English word blends. There are a lot  of them!

But even though you might be familiar with some, there are others that you’ll definitely be surprised to learn are blended from two other words.

In this post, we discuss some common blended words with examples of how to use them in a sentence.

1. Blog
2. Bromance
3. Brunch
4. Dramedy
5. Frenemy
6. Glamping
7. Hangry
8. Jeggings
9. Mocktail
10. Mockumentary
11. Motel
12. Staycation
13. Webinar

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1. Blog

Where it comes from: web + log

What it means: An informational website or online journal

How to use it: “Whenever I go traveling, I write on my blog so I can share my experiences with others.”

2. Bromance

Where it comes from: brother + romance

What it means: A very close friendship between two men 

How to use it: “My brother and his friend are in such a bromance; they hang out almost every day!”

3. Brunch

Where it comes from: breakfast + lunch

What it means: A meal that takes place in the late morning and often consists of both breakfast and lunch foods

How to use it: “I love the weekends because I can sleep in late and still have time to go out for brunch.” 

4. Dramedy

Where it comes from: drama + comedy

What it means: A show or movie that has elements of both drama and comedy

How to use it: “Dramedies are my favorite type of show because I like watching dramatic situations but I need a few laughs to lighten the mood.”

5. Frenemy

Where it comes from: friend + enemy

What it means: Someone who acts friendly toward another person but is actually their enemy

How to use it: “I only hang out with her because I’ve known her my whole life. We don’t even really like each other—we’re basically frenemies.”

6. Glamping

Where it comes from: glamorous + camping

What it means: A type of camping trip that involves luxurious and high-class accommodations and facilities (such as electricity and indoor plumbing).

How to use it: “You’ve got a queen-sized bed, a mini fridge, an air conditioner and a TV—you’re not camping; you’re glamping!”

7. Hangry

Where it comes from: hungry + angry

What it means: An angry feeling that comes from being hungry

How to use it: “If I don’t eat breakfast by 9 a.m., you won’t want to be around me. I get very hangry.”

8. Jeggings

Where it comes from: jeans + leggings

What it means: Leggings (pants made of a stretchy material) made to look like jeans

How to use it: “Why wear jeans when you can wear jeggings? They’re so much more comfortable.” 

9. Mocktail

Where it comes from: mock + cocktail

What it means: A cocktail that contains no alcohol

How to use it: “This bar has something for everyone: fine wines, tasty margaritas and, if you’re not a drinker, they have a fantastic selection of fruity mocktails!”

10. Mockumentary

Where it comes from: mock + documentary

What it means: A movie filmed in the style of a documentary but fictional and usually comedic

How to use it: “You should check out Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping starring Andy Samberg from Saturday Night Live. It’s a hilarious mockumentary.”

11. Motel

Where it comes from: motor + hotel

What it means: A type of accommodation for motorists, often located near a highway, where each room has an exterior door with parking directly outside.

How to use it: “When my family used to go on long road trips, we would always spend the night at cheap motels along the way.”

12. Staycation

Where it comes from: stay + vacation

What it means: A vacation that a person takes close to home 

How to use it: “We can’t afford a big holiday this year, so we’re just going to take a weekend staycation at a hotel downtown.”

13. Webinar

Where it comes from: web + seminar

What it means: An educational presentation that takes place online

How to use it: “I’m not able to attend the lecture in person, but they’re offering a webinar as well, so I can participate from home.”

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Learn these word blends and impress your friends

Blended words have been part of English vocabulary for centuries, and the list keeps growing. To impress your friends at your next English study session, review the words above and show off your knowledge of blended words!

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Andrea is a Canadian freelance writer and editor specializing in English, e-learning, EdTech, and SaaS. She has a background as an ESL teacher in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. In her free time, Andrea loves hanging out with her husband and children, creating recipes in the kitchen, and reading fiction. She also loves camping and jumping into lakes whenever possible. Learn more about Andrea on LinkedIn or check out her website.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about word-formation. For a method of teaching how to read, see synthetic phonics.

In linguistics, a blend (sometimes called blend word, lexical blend, portmanteau, or portmanteau word) is a word formed from parts of two or more other words. At least one of these parts is not a morph (the realization of a morpheme) but instead a mere splinter, a fragment that is normally meaningless. In the words of Valerie Adams:

In words such as motel, boatel and Lorry-Tel, hotel is represented by various shorter substitutes – ‑otel, ‑tel, or ‑el – which I shall call splinters. Words containing splinters I shall call blends.^{[1][n 1]}

Classification[edit]

Blends of two or more words may be classified from each of three viewpoints: morphotactic, morphonological, and morphosemantic.^[2]

Morphotactic classification[edit]

Blends may be classified morphotactically into two kinds: total and partial.^[2]

Total blends[edit]

In a total blend, each of the words creating the blend is reduced to a mere splinter.^[2] Some linguists limit blends to these (perhaps with additional conditions): for example, Ingo Plag considers «proper blends» to be total blends that semantically are coordinate, the remainder being «shortened compounds».^[3]

Commonly for English blends, the beginning of one word is followed by the end of another:

• boom + hoist → boost ^{[n 2]}
• breakfast + lunch → brunch ^{[n 2]}

Much less commonly in English, the beginning of one word may be followed by the beginning of another:

• teleprinter + exchange → telex ^{[n 2]}
• American + Indian → Amerind ^{[n 2]}

Some linguists do not regard beginning+beginning concatenations as blends, instead calling them complex clippings,^[4] clipping compounds^[5] or clipped compounds.^[6]

Unusually in English, the end of one word may be followed by the end of another:

• Red Bull + margarita → bullgarita ^{[n 2]}
• Hello Kitty + delicious → kittylicious ^{[n 2]}

A splinter of one word may replace part of another, as in three coined by Lewis Carroll in «Jabberwocky»:

• chuckle + snort → chortle ^{[n 2]}
• flimsy + miserable → mimsy
• slimy + lithe → slithy ^{[n 2]}

They are sometimes termed intercalative blends; these words are among the original «portmanteaus» for which this meaning of the word was created. ^[7]

Partial blends[edit]

In a partial blend, one entire word is concatenated with a splinter from another.^[2] Some linguists do not recognize these as blends.^[8]

An entire word may be followed by a splinter:

• dumb + confound → dumbfound ^{[n 2]}
• fan + magazine → fanzine ^{[n 3]}

A splinter may be followed by an entire word:

• Brad + Angelina → Brangelina ^{[n 2]}
• American + Indian → Amerindian ^{[n 2]}

An entire word may replace part of another:

• adorable + dork → adorkable ^{[n 2]}
• disgusting + gross → disgrossting ^{[n 2]}

These have also been called sandwich words,^[9] and classed among intercalative blends.^[7]

(When two words are combined in their entirety, the result is considered a compound word rather than a blend. For example, bagpipe is a compound, not a blend, of bag and pipe.)

Morphonological classification[edit]

Morphonologically, blends fall into two kinds: overlapping and non-overlapping.^[2]

Overlapping blends[edit]

Overlapping blends are those for which the ingredients’ consonants, vowels or even syllables overlap to some extent. The overlap can be of different kinds.^[2] These are also called haplologic blends.^[10]

There may be an overlap that is both phonological and orthographic, but with no other shortening:

• anecdote + dotage → anecdotage ^{[n 2]}
• pal + alimony → palimony ^{[n 2]}

The overlap may be both phonological and orthographic, and with some additional shortening to at least one of the ingredients:

• California + fornication → Californication ^{[n 4]}
• picture + dictionary → pictionary ^{[n 2]}

Such an overlap may be discontinuous:

• politician + pollution → pollutician ^{[n 5]}
• beef + buffalo → beefalo ^{[n 2]}

These are also termed imperfect blends.^[11][12]

It can occur with three components:

• camisade + cannibalism + ballistics → camibalistics ^{[n 6]}
• meander + Neanderthal + tale → meandertale ^{[n 6]}

The phonological overlap need not also be orthographic:

• back + acronym → backronym ^{[n 2]}
• war + orgasm → wargasm ^{[n 2]}

If the phonological but non-orthographic overlap encompasses the whole of the shorter ingredient, as in

• sin + cinema → sinema ^{[n 2]}
• sham + champagne → shampagne ^{[n 2]}

then the effect depends on orthography alone. (They are also called orthographic blends.^[13])

An orthographic overlap need not also be phonological:

• smoke + fog → smog ^{[n 2]}
• binary + unit → bit ^{[n 2]}

For some linguists, an overlap is a condition for a blend.^[14]

Non-overlapping blends[edit]

Non-overlapping blends (also called substitution blends) have no overlap, whether phonological or orthographic:

• California + Mexico → Calexico ^{[n 2]}
• beautiful + delicious → beaulicious ^{[n 4]}

Morphosemantic classification[edit]

Morphosemantically, blends fall into two kinds: attributive and coordinate.^[2]

Attributive blends[edit]

Attributive blends (also called syntactic or telescope blends) are those in which one of the ingredients is the head and the other is attributive. A porta-light is a portable light, not a ‘light-emitting’ or light portability; light is the head. A snobject is a snobbery-satisfying object and not an objective or other kind of snob; object is the head.^[2]

As is also true for (conventional, non-blend) attributive compounds (among which bathroom, for example, is a kind of room, not a kind of bath), the attributive blends of English are mostly head-final and mostly endocentric. As an example of an exocentric attributive blend, Fruitopia may metaphorically take the buyer to a fruity utopia (and not a utopian fruit); however, it is not a utopia but a drink.

Coordinate blends[edit]

Coordinate blends (also called associative or portmanteau blends) combine two words having equal status, and have two heads. Thus brunch is neither a breakfasty lunch nor a lunchtime breakfast but instead some hybrid of breakfast and lunch; Oxbridge is equally Oxford and Cambridge universities. This too parallels (conventional, non-blend) compounds: an actor–director is equally an actor and a director.^[2]

Two kinds of coordinate blends are particularly conspicuous: those that combine (near‑) synonyms:

• gigantic + enormous → ginormous
• insinuation + innuendo → insinuendo

and those that combine (near‑) opposites:

• transmitter + receiver → transceiver
• friend + enemy → frenemy

Blending of two roots[edit]

Blending can also apply to roots rather than words, for instance in Israeli Hebrew:

• רמזור ramzor ‘traffic light’ combines רמז √rmz ‘hint’ and אור or ‘light’.
• מגדלור migdalor ‘lighthouse’ combines מגדל migdal ‘tower’ and אור or ‘light’.
• Israeli דחפור dakhpór ‘bulldozer’ hybridizes (Mishnaic Hebrew>) Israeli דחפ √dħp ‘push’ and (Biblical Hebrew>) Israeli חפר √ħpr ‘dig'[…]
• Israeli שלטוט shiltút ‘zapping, surfing the channels, flipping through the channels’ derives from
  • (i) (Hebrew>) Israeli שלט shalát ‘remote control’, an ellipsis – like English remote (but using the noun instead) – of the (widely known) compound שלט רחוק shalát rakhók – cf. the Academy of the Hebrew Language’s שלט רחק shalát rákhak; and
  • (ii) (Hebrew>) Israeli שטוט shitút ‘wandering, vagrancy’. Israeli שלטוט shiltút was introduced by the Academy of the Hebrew Language in […] 1996. Synchronically, it might appear to result from reduplication of the final consonant of shalát ‘remote control’.
• Another example of blending which has also been explained as mere reduplication is Israeli גחלילית gakhlilít ‘fire-fly, glow-fly, Lampyris‘. This coinage by Hayyim Nahman Bialik blends (Hebrew>) Israeli גחלת gakhélet ‘burning coal’ with (Hebrew>) Israeli לילה láyla ‘night’. Compare this with the unblended חכלילית khakhlilít ‘(black) redstart, Phœnicurus’ (<Biblical Hebrew חכליל ‘dull red, reddish’). Synchronically speaking though, most native Israeli-speakers feel that gakhlilít includes a reduplication of the third radical of גחל √għl. This is incidentally how Ernest Klein^[15] explains gakhlilít. Since he is attempting to provide etymology, his description might be misleading if one agrees that Hayyim Nahman Bialik had blending in mind.»^[16]

«There are two possible etymological analyses for Israeli Hebrew כספר kaspár ‘bank clerk, teller’. The first is that it consists of (Hebrew>) Israeli כסף késef ‘money’ and the (International/Hebrew>) Israeli agentive suffix ר- -ár. The second is that it is a quasi-portmanteau word which blends כסף késef ‘money’ and (Hebrew>) Israeli ספר √spr ‘count’. Israeli Hebrew כספר kaspár started as a brand name but soon entered the common language. Even if the second analysis is the correct one, the final syllable ר- -ár apparently facilitated nativization since it was regarded as the Hebrew suffix ר- -år (probably of Persian pedigree), which usually refers to craftsmen and professionals, for instance as in Mendele Mocher Sforim’s coinage סמרטוטר smartutár ‘rag-dealer’.»^[17]

Lexical selection[edit]

Blending may occur with an error in lexical selection, the process by which a speaker uses his semantic knowledge to choose words. Lewis Carroll’s explanation, which gave rise to the use of ‘portmanteau’ for such combinations, was:

Humpty Dumpty’s theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. For instance, take the two words «fuming» and «furious.» Make up your mind that you will say both words … you will say «frumious.»^[18]

The errors are based on similarity of meanings, rather than phonological similarities, and the morphemes or phonemes stay in the same position within the syllable.^[19]

Use[edit]

Some languages, like Japanese, encourage the shortening and merging of borrowed foreign words (as in gairaigo), because they are long or difficult to pronounce in the target language. For example, karaoke, a combination of the Japanese word kara (meaning empty) and the clipped form oke of the English loanword «orchestra» (J. ōkesutora オーケストラ), is a Japanese blend that has entered the English language. The Vietnamese language also encourages blend words formed from Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary. For example, the term Việt Cộng is derived from the first syllables of «Việt Nam» (Vietnam) and «Cộng sản» (communist).

Many corporate brand names, trademarks, and initiatives, as well as names of corporations and organizations themselves, are blends. For example, Wiktionary, one of Wikipedia’s sister projects, is a blend of wiki and dictionary.

See also[edit]

• Acronym and initialism
• Amalgamation (names)
• Clipping (morphology)
• Conceptual blending
• Hybrid word
• List of blend words
• Phonestheme
• Phono-semantic matching
• Syllabic abbreviation
• Wiktionary category:English blends

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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Blended Words in English

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One of the fun things about language is that it’s always changing and evolving. New words emerge (pop up, are new) all the time – especially in English with the influence of non-native speakers on English. These new words allow us to say more, or say things more specifically, in an efficient way. In every case, new words change the way in which we communicate with each other. Some of the most fun new words are called blended words. Blended words in English may also be called portmanteaus.

Blended words are essentially just two words mixed together to give us one, new word. This week we’ve compiled (put together, collected) some of our favorite blended words in English for you to peruse (look over casually). Some of them may surprise you!

Brunch

Brunch is a combination of the words breakfast and lunch, and arguably (debatably, with possible discussion) the best meal of the day.

If you go out for brunch, you will probably go between 11am and 2pm (Telling Time in English), and the restaurant will have a combination of breakfast and lunch foods on the menu. Brunch is a great addition to any weekend, and one of the great blended words in English that has been adopted by (loaned to) many other languages!

For example:

• Do you want to go to brunch on Sunday? I can reserve a table for noon.
• We make a Mother’s Day Brunch every year in the afternoon.

Hangry

Have you ever been hungry and ended up in a bad mood or feeling irritated? Then, once you eat, you feel better again? You very well may have been hangry, which is a portmanteau of hungry and angry.

For example:

• I’m pretty hangry – please don’t talk to me until I get some sugar in my system!
• The baby’s hangry…we better feed him before he starts crying!
• Can we have dinner soon? I’m getting hangry.

Blog

This one surprised me when I read about it! The word blog is a mix of the words web and log.

When the Internet came into everyday life, people started documenting their lives online, and the web log, or blog, became a way of expressing yourself through writing and sharing it with others online.

Now you have an interesting tidbit to share when you’re talking about your favorite blog!

For example:

• What’s the best blog you’ve read recently?
• She started her blog in high school and now it has 1 million subscribers!

Humongous

If you’ve ever used the word humongous, you may not have known that it is one of the most common blended words in English. In fact, it’s a mix of the words huge and monstrous.

Since both of these words mean something very, very big, if something is humongous it is extremely big.

For example:

• I was at the Grand Canyon last week. I didn’t realize how humongous it is!
• We have a humongous exam on Friday and I’m so nervous about it!!

Internet

Did you know that Internet is, itself, a blended word in English? It is! The word Internet is a blend of the words international network.

The Internet has really connected people around the globe (world) and made our modern world what it is today, so the international network has really lived up to its name (done what it the name says it would).

For example:

• What do you like to do on the Internet?
• Can you connect to the Internet? My WiFi connection is pretty bad.

Staycation

Sometimes when you have vacation time, you just want to stay home and hang out there. Being home and just relaxing can be a lot less stressful than going away. This is where the portmanteau of stay and vacation comes into play: staycation.

A staycation can be just as good as traveling somewhere, so maybe your next vacation will be a staycation.

For example:

• What are you going to do during your staycation next week?
• We are taking a staycation the last week before school starts.

Motel

Did you know that the word motel is also a portmanteau? It’s a combination of the words motor and hotel. Motels are usually located along a highway or route where there are a lot of cars travelling, but no cities or towns nearby.

Where do you stay when you’re on vacation? Do you stay in a hotel, motel, or somewhere else?

For example:

• Is there a motel where we can stay around here?
• We can book a motel spontaneously along the highway when we get tired.

Guesstimate

Sometimes you may not know the exact answer, and that’s where this blended word comes in handy. Guesstimate is a combination of guess and estimate.

For example:

• Do you know the answer? Or do you have a guesstimate?
• I would guesstimate that the packages will arrive in two weeks.

Have you ever used some of these blended words in English? Are there any other portmanteaus you know about? Share them with us in the comments below!

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Check out these other popular blogs: Taboo words in English, 7 Synonyms for Being Drunk, 7 American English Slang Words, or these Sports Idioms used in English!

Erin Duffin lives in Hamburg, is an English teacher, blogger, yoga instructor, and would guesstimate that you probably didn’t know the origins of most of these blended words in English! 

Looking for more phrases, ways to use English everyday, or get the conversation started? Sign up for our newsletter or check out the website!

Crystal Fisher2019-08-15T14:35:19+01:00

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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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