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A portmanteau word (pronounced }}) is used broadly to mean a blend
Blend

In linguistics, a blend is a word formed from parts of two other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.Linguistics...
 of two (or more) words, and narrowly in linguistics
Linguistics

Linguistics is the science study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure and the study of Meaning ....
 fields to mean only a blend of two or more function word
Function word

Function words are words that have little lexical Meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammar relationships with other words within a Sentence , or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker....
s.

tmanteau word" is used to describe a linguistic
Linguistic

Linguistic may mean:*pertaining to language**specifically, pertaining to natural language*pertaining to the field of linguistics...
 blend
Blend

In linguistics, a blend is a word formed from parts of two other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.Linguistics...
, namely "a word formed by blending sounds from two or more distinct words and combining their meanings."

Such a definition of "portmanteau word" overlaps with the grammatical
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
 term contraction
Contraction (grammar)

In current English usage, contraction is shortening of a word, syllable, or word group by omission of internal letters.In traditional grammar, contraction can denote the formation of a new word from one word or a group of words, for example, by elision....
, and linguists avoid using the former term in such cases.






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Encyclopedia


A portmanteau word (pronounced }}) is used broadly to mean a blend
Blend

In linguistics, a blend is a word formed from parts of two other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.Linguistics...
 of two (or more) words, and narrowly in linguistics
Linguistics

Linguistics is the science study of natural language. Linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields. An important topical division is between the study of language structure and the study of Meaning ....
 fields to mean only a blend of two or more function word
Function word

Function words are words that have little lexical Meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammar relationships with other words within a Sentence , or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker....
s.

Meaning

"Portmanteau word" is used to describe a linguistic
Linguistic

Linguistic may mean:*pertaining to language**specifically, pertaining to natural language*pertaining to the field of linguistics...
 blend
Blend

In linguistics, a blend is a word formed from parts of two other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.Linguistics...
, namely "a word formed by blending sounds from two or more distinct words and combining their meanings."

Such a definition of "portmanteau word" overlaps with the grammatical
Grammar

Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
 term contraction
Contraction (grammar)

In current English usage, contraction is shortening of a word, syllable, or word group by omission of internal letters.In traditional grammar, contraction can denote the formation of a new word from one word or a group of words, for example, by elision....
, and linguists avoid using the former term in such cases. As an example: the words do + not become the contraction don't, a single word that represents the meaning of the combined words.

Origin

The usage of the word "portmanteau" in this sense first appeared in Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll , was an England author, mathematics, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer....
's book Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of children's literature by Lewis Carroll , generally categorized as literary nonsense....
 (1871), in which Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty is a character in a Nursery rhyme typically portrayed as an egg . Most English language-speaking children are familiar with the rhyme:...
 explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky
Jabberwocky

"Jabberwocky" is a poem of nonsense verse written by Lewis Carroll, originally featured as a part of his novel Through the Looking-Glass . It is considered by many to be one of the greatest literary nonsense poems written in the English language....
:
  • "‘Slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy’... You see it's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word"
  • "‘Mimsy’ is ‘flimsy and miserable’ (there's another portmanteau ... for you)".
Carroll uses the word again when discussing lexical selection
Blend

In linguistics, a blend is a word formed from parts of two other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.Linguistics...
:
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 "fumious.".
Carroll suggests here a double metaphor
Metaphor

Metaphor is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. It is a figure of speech that compares two or more things without using the words "like" or "as." More generally, a metaphor describes a first subject as being or equal to a second object in some way....
. The original meaning of the word 'portmanteau' is a form of suitcase
Suitcase

A suitcase is a somewhat flat rectangular-shaped bag with rounded corners, either hard plastic or soft or made of cloth, vinyl or leather that more or less keeps its shape....
 containing two separated hinged compartments; thus: two distinct words, packed as one. The word 'portmanteau' is itself a 'portmanteau word', deriving from the French compound "porte-manteau" consisting of the conjugated word porter (to carry) and the word manteau (coat), meaning a coat hanger.

Examples