Love portmanteaus? Then you’ll love this list of the 101 best word combination examples.
But first …
What Is a Portmanteau?
A portmanteau is a word that is formed by blending two or more words together to create a new word that combines the meanings of its parts. In linguistic terms, a portmanteau is a type of neologism, which is a newly coined word or phrase that has not been widely adopted into the language.
The term “portmanteau” is derived from the French word “porter” (to carry) and “manteau” (a cloak or coat with two pockets). It was originally used to describe a type of suitcase that had two compartments that folded over each other.
Portmanteaus are commonly used in modern English to create new words that describe new concepts or combine existing concepts in novel ways. Some well-known examples of portmanteaus include “brunch” (breakfast + lunch), “smog” (smoke + fog), and “motel” (motor + hotel).
And here are 101 more examples of portmanteaus:
101 ‘Portmanteau’ Word Combinations
- Brunch (breakfast + lunch)
- Spork (spoon + fork)
- Chocoholic (chocolate + alcoholic)
- Smog (smoke + fog)
- Frenemy (friend + enemy)
- Infomercial (information + commercial)
- Mocktail (mock + cocktail)
- Staycation (stay + vacation)
- Animatronic (animated + electronic)
- Edutainment (education + entertainment)
- Ginormous (gigantic + enormous)
- Brangelina (Brad + Angelina)
- Bromance (brother + romance)
- Chillax (chill + relax)
- Fantabulous (fantastic + fabulous)
- Frappuccino (frappe + cappuccino)
- Glamping (glamorous + camping)
- Hangry (hungry + angry)
- Jedi (Jedi Knights in Star Wars were named by combining “jè” and “dài” which mean “inherent” and “greatness” in Chinese)
- Motel (motor + hotel)
- Advertainment (advertising + entertainment)
- Affluenza (affluence + influenza)
- Agribusiness (agriculture + business)
- Autotune (automatic + tune)
- Avocado (avocado + cado)
- Bravangelist (brave + evangelist)
- Broflake (bro + snowflake)
- Carnist (carnivore + -ist)
- Cosplay (costume + play)
- Crunk (crazy + drunk)
- Cyborg (cybernetic + organism)
- Deodorant (deodorize + ant)
- Docudrama (documentary + drama)
- Ecotourism (ecology + tourism)
- Electrocute (electric + execute)
- Emoticon (emotion + icon)
- Fanfiction (fan + fiction)
- Feminazi (feminist + Nazi)
- Flamingo (flame + flamingo)
- Flexitarian (flexible + vegetarian)
- Flocktail (flock + cocktail)
- Flowbee (flow + bee)
- Frenzy (frenetic + crazy)
- Guesstimate (guess + estimate)
- Hangover (hang + over)
- Helicarrier (helicopter + carrier)
- Hometel (home + hotel)
- Humongous (huge + monstrous)
- Inflation (inflate + action)
- Infotainment (information + entertainment)
- Insomnia (inability to sleep + -ia)
- Interrobang (interrogation + bang)
- Internet (interconnected + network)
- Intoxication (intoxicate + -ion)
- Jeggings (jeans + leggings)
- Labradoodle (Labrador + poodle)
- Legroom (leg + room)
- Liger (lion + tiger)
- Locavore (local + carnivore)
- Luggable (luggage + able)
- Lunchbox (lunch + box)
- Manbun (man + bun)
- Mechatronics (mechanical + electronics)
- Modem (modulate + demodulate)
- Moped (motor + pedal)
- Muppet (marionette + puppet)
- Netiquette (internet + etiquette)
- Newsfeed (news + feed)
- Nutella (nut + Ella)
- Oxymoron (oxy- + moron)
- Parkour (parcours + courir)
- Photobomb (photo + bomb)
- Pixelated (pixel + -ated)
- Podcast (iPod + broadcast)
- Poltergeist (poltern + geist)
- Pregame (pre + game)
- Prosumer (professional + consumer)
- Puggle (pug + beagle)
- Rockumentary (rock + documentary)
- Sexting (sex + texting)
- Sharknado (shark + tornado)
- Shopaholic (shop + alcoholic)
- Showbiz (show + business)
- Singalong (sing + along)
- Skateboard (skate + board)
- Skort (skirt + shorts)
- Smokestack (smoke + stack)
- Snackable (snack + able)
- Snowmageddon (snow + Armageddon)
- Spanglish (Spanish + English)
- Staycationer (staycation
- Stormtrooper (storm + trooper)
- Taxicab (taximeter + cabriolet)
- Technopreneur (technology + entrepreneur)
- Televangelist (television + evangelist)
- Tofurkey (tofu + turkey)
- Tracklete (track + athlete)
- Transumer (transient + consumer)
- Turtleneck (turtle + neck)
- Twirligig (twirl + gig)
- Velcro (velvet + crochet)
Add Your Own Portmanteau to the List
Love word combinations? You can make your own portmanteau to add to this list with Word Remixer. Try it today, and let us know what you come up with!