portmanteau
portmanteau Lexical Profile
portmanteau Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A word formed by blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, such as 'smog' from 'smoke' and 'fog' or 'brunch' from 'breakfast' and 'lunch'.
"The word 'motel' is a classic portmanteau created by merging 'motor' and 'hotel'."
A large traveling bag, traditionally made of stiff leather and designed to open into two equal compartments.
"The Victorian traveler strapped his heavy leather portmanteau onto the top of the stagecoach."
• adjective
Consisting of or combining two or more separable aspects, qualities, or components into a single composite whole.
"The director's latest release is a portmanteau film featuring four interwoven short stories."
• Rhymes for portmanteau
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the 16th century from French portemanteau, combining porter ('to carry') and manteau ('cloak'). The linguistic sense was coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass (1871), where Humpty Dumpty explains that two meanings are packed into one word just like a two-compartment traveling bag.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.