Portmanteau word
WordNet
noun
(1) A new word formed by joining two others and combining their meanings
"`smog' is a blend of `smoke' and `fog'"
"`motel' is a portmanteau word made by combining `motor' and `hotel'"
"`brunch' is a well-known portmanteau"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Coined by Lewis Carroll in 1872, based on the concept of two words packed together, like a portmanteau (a travelling case having two halves joined by a hinge).
- Well, “slithy” means “lithe and slimy.” “Lithe” is the same as “active”. You see it’s like a portmanteau–there are two meanings packed up into one word.
Through The Looking Glass (Chapter VI. Humpty Dumpty)
Noun
- A word which combines the meaning of two words (or, rarely, more than two words), formed by combining the words, usually, but not always, by adjoining the first part of one word and the last part of the other, the adjoining parts often having a common vowel; for example, smog, formed from smoke and fog.