Portmanteau: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

A portmanteau (plural portmanteaus or portmanteaux) is a large travelling case made of leather. These cases consist of two halves that are connected with a hinge.

In linguistics, a portmanteau word (sometimes morpheme) (also called a blend or frankenword) is a word that is formed by combining two or more words. This meaning of the word was coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.

An example of a portmanteau is "smog", a combination of the words "smoke" and "fog". Carroll used such words to humorous effect in his poems, especially "Jabberwocky". James Joyce used portmanteau words extensively in Finnegans Wake. Many corporate brand names, trademarks, and initiatives, as well as names of corporations and organizations themselves, are portmanteaux. For example, "Wikipedia" is a portmanteau made from wiki and encyclopedia.

Portmanteau words are an important feature of fusional languages such as Latin.

InterWikimedia link

• Wiktionary: Portmanteau