List of portmanteaux

This is a partial list of portmanteaux or "blends" — words formed by combining two other words, in the English language. Most portmanteau words take the prefix of one word and use the suffix of the other forming a prefix and suffix-like wording. That kind of setup sometimes causes derrivative meanings for the prefixes and suffixes. But in some cases, the prefix from both words can be used (e.g. modem).

General

• affluenza from affluence and influenza
• alphabet from alpha and beta is a code name for the setup of the letters in our language.
• anacronym from anachronism and acronym
• animatronics from animation and electronics
• artivist from art and activist to mean those to attempt to push political agendas by means of art.
• avionics from aviation and electronics

• backronym from back and acronym
• blaxploitation from black and exploitation
• blaccent from black and accent - referring to intonations and accents characteristic of black people.
• bleen from blue and green (coined by Nelson Goodman to illustrate Goodman's paradox)
• Blorph from blend and morph - a visual effects technique (coined by Ken Ralston/ Sony Pictures Imageworks)
• Bootylicious from booty and delicious - a title of a Destiny's Child song
• boxercise from boxing and exercise
• brunch from breakfast and lunch
• buffeteria from buffet and cafeteria

• cafetorium from cafeteria and auditorium; a room, usually in a school, used for both purposes; see also gymnatorium.
• Californication from California and fornication
• camcorder from camera and recorder
• caplet from capsule and tablet
• carboloy from carbon and alloy
• chillaxing from chilling out and relaxing
• chortle from chuckle and snort (coined by Lewis Carroll)
• Chunnel from Channel and tunnel
• cocacolonization from Coca-Cola and colonization
• cryptex from cryptology and codex
• cyborg from cybernetic and organism

• digipeater from digital and repeater
• dramedy from drama and comedy
• dramastic from dramatic and drastic

• ebonics from ebony and phonics
• ecoteur from ecological and saboteur

• faction from fact and fiction
• fantabulous from fantastic and fabulous
• fanzine from fan and magazine
• folksonomy from folk and taxonomy
• foon from fork and spoon (see also spork, below)
• Franglais from français (French for "French") and anglais (French for "English") (see also —lish, below)
• frankenfood from Frankenstein and food - a reference to GMOs
• frankenword from Frankenstein and word - synonym for portmanteau
• fugly from fucking and ugly (commonly abbreviated to fug)

• gaydar from gay and radar
• ginormous from gigantic and enormous
• godness from goddess and goodness
• grue from green and blue (see bleen, above)
• guesstimate from guess and estimate
• ghettro from ghetto and retro
• gymnatorium from gymnasium and auditorium; a room, usually in a school, used for both purposes; see also cafetorium)
• hairagami from origami and hair - an "As seen on TV" product for hairstyling for formal events.

• hasbian from has-been and lesbian
• ignoranus from ignoramus and anus (or asshole) - a person who is both stupid and outspoken
• infomercial from information and commercial

• Jazzercise from jazz and exercise
• Jewdar from Jew and radar
• knork from knife and fork - a fork with an outer tine sharpened slightly to enhance the cutting ability of the tine

• —lish used as a suffix to form many frankenwords meaning foreign varieties of English (see also Franglais, above):
  • Chinglish (Chinese)
  • Germlish or Denglish (German)
  • Hebrish (Hebrew)
  • Hinglish (Hindi)
  • Hunglish (Hungarian)
  • Japlish (Japanese)
  • Konglish (Korean)
  • Malglish (Malaysian)
  • Russlish (Russian)
  • Singlish (Singaporean)
  • Spanglish (Spanish)
  • Swedlish (Swedish)
  • Taglish (Tagalog)
• lupper from lunch and supper

• manorexic from man and anorexic - a man who is thin to the point of looking anorexic (formerly used to describe actor Jason Behr of Roswell)
• manssiere from man and brassiere - a bra designed for and worn by a man (coined on a Seinfeld episode)
• mantastic from man and fantastic
• mechatronics from mechanics and electronics
• meld from melt and weld
• metrosexual; most commonly, from metropolitan and heterosexual; some argue the etymology can be attributed to metera, from the Greek word meaning 'mother' (or effeminate), from which metropolitan is derived
• Mexifornia from Mexico and California
• mimbo from male and bimbo (coined on a Seinfeld episode)
• mingy from mean and stingy
• mobisode from mobile (phone) and episode
• mockney from mock and Cockney
• moped from motor and pedal
• motel from motor and hotel
• mutagen from mutation and from Gk. genesis "origin, creation, generation,"

• Oxbridge from Oxford and Cambridge

• Phoneme from phonetics and scheme. This is a way to distinguish sounds of symbols.
• Pictionary from picture and dictionary - the brand name of a popular board game distributed by Hasbro Inc.
• pizzone from pizza and calzone (popularized by Pizza Hut)
• pluot from plum and apricot
• pomato from potato and tomato
• pomosexual from postmodern and sexual
• posistor from positive and thermistor
• procrasturbate from procrastinate and masturbate - Usually means "to delay simply because it feels good", occasionally "to indulge in unnecessary, self-involved pedantry". From the broader definitions of masturbatory as simply "pleasurable", or sometimes "excessively self-involved".
• prosumer from professional and consumer - products at a quality between 'professional' products and 'consumer' products; typically marketed as such

• Republicrat (or Demopublican) from Republican and Democrat (or vice versa)
• Robocop from robotic and cop - the main character of a sci-fi film of the same name and its sequels
• Rolodex from rolling and index - the trademarked name of a popular office organizer

• sexcellent from sex and excellent
• sexercise from sex and exercise
• sexploitation from sex and exploitation
• Sexplosion! from sexual and explosion (a TKK album)
• simulcast from simultaneous and broadcast
• silastic combination silicone and plastic
• skort from skirt and short (as in short pants)
• smaze from smoke and haze
• smog from smoke and fog
• spork from spoon and fork
• sportscast from sports and broadcast
• stagflation from stagnation and inflation
• swaption from swap and option

• tangelo from tangerine and pomelo
• teensploitation from teen and exploitation
• televangelist from television and evangelist
• Texican from Texan and Mexican
• Theftendo from theft and Nintendo. This word was coined by Brian Provinciano in his homebrew NES game design project Grand Theftendo.
• thermistor from thermal and resistor
• toonie from two and loonie
• tomacco from tomato and tobacco (fictional vegetable from The Simpsons)
• transistor from transfer and resistor
• triticale from triticum and secale (Latin for wheat and rye)
• twigloo from twig and igloo

• wigger from white and nigger - a caucasian person who dresses, speaks, etc. in an attempt to emulate the perceived mannerisms of an African American youth, especially those mannerisms based on ethnic stereotype; also spelled whigger
• Wonkavator from Wonka and elevator - a fictional elevator that can move in any direction, not merely up or down -- featured in the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
• woon from wooden and spoon - flat wooden things for eating dished ice cream

• yestergay from yesterday and gay

Internet and computing

• alphanumeric from alphabetic and numeric
• apronym from apropos and acronym
• ARPAnet from ARPA and network
• ASCIIbetical from ASCII and alphabetical
• automagic(al) from automatic and magic(al)
• bit from binary and digit
• brouter from bridge and router
• codec from coder and decoder
• datacasting from data and broadcasting
• digerati from digital and literati
• emoticon from emotion and icon
• ezine from electronic and magazine
• Fembot from female and robot
• Feminoid from female and android
• Internet from international/interglobal/interchanged and network
• malware from malicious and software
• modem from modulator and demodulator
• multicart from multiple and cartridge. This kind of cartridge consists of multiple games in one (e.g. 76,000-in-1 from Power Player Super Joy III).
• netizen from (Inter)net and citizen
• netiquette from (Inter)net and etiquette (similarly, wikiquette)
• palmtop from palm and laptop is actually a PDA.
• pixel from picture and element
• podcasting from iPod and broadcasting
• privoxy from private and proxy
• qubit from quantum and bit
• smudgemate from smudge and estimate
• sysop from system and operator
• spamdexing from spam and indexing
• sporgery from spam and forgery
• texel from texture and element
• voxel from volume and pixel

Marketing

• advertainment from advertising and entertainment
• advertorial from advertising and editorial
• cineplex from cinema and complex (building)
• docudrama from documentary and drama
• docusoap from documentary and soap opera (serialised drama)
• dramality from dramatic and reality (television)
• dramedy from dramatic and comedy (television)
• edutainment from education and entertainment
• fraudience from fraud and audience
• infomercial from information and commercial
• infotainment from information and entertainment
• Limon from lime + lemon; a commercial construction to promote the soft drink Sprite
• multiplex from multiple and cineplex! - this word has a different meaning in telecommunications

Art, literature and entertainment

• arfé from art and café
• Bollywood from Bombay and Hollywood
• Britcom from British and comedy, by analogy with sitcom (see below)
• dancercise from dance and exercise
• dancersize from dance and circumsize, coined in jest on Fry and Laurie
• dramality from drama and reality television (coined by Mark Burnett to describe his television series Survivor)
• 'dramedy from drama and comedy a synonym for comedy-drama
• dubtitle from dub and subtitle, for subtitles transcribed from dubbed soundtrack, especially in anime
• Famicom from family and computer, this is the official name for the Japanese version of the NES.
• Famiclone from Famicom and clone. These are clones of the NES/Famicom. Many of these products are pirated hardware.
• Goombario from Goomba and Mario, he is a friendly variation of the goomba, and is a playable character in Paper Mario.
• Goomboss from Goomba and boss, coined from Nintendo video game company; he is the boss of the goombas in the video game Super Mario 64 DS. And he complains that goombas have been getting squashed by Mario.
• Kramit from Kermit and Damnit, this word was said in some song about Big Bird and Kermit getting stoned. Sesame Street was referred to as "Sensimilla Street " in that song.
• Kripkenstein from Kripke and Wittgenstein, coined to describe a philosophical position that Kripke argued one could read into Wittgenstein's work, but which neither he nor Wittgenstein accepted.
• machinima from machine and cinema
• magikoopa from magic and koopa, characters from the Super Mario series of games that performed magic; Kamek is the most famous of the class.
• mathercise from mathematics and exercise, used by Mr. Morales to describe group aerobics involving shaping one's body into the specified equation.
• mockumentary from mock and documentary
• newrun from new and rerun - episode from a talk-show wherin old subjects are rehashed.
• Orgasmatron from orgasm and electron(ic) - from Woody Allen's Sleeper
• Policenauts from police and astronaut
• rockumentary from rock and documentary
• sacrilicious from sacrilege and delicious, used by Homer Simpson
• scanlation from scan and translation, used for unofficial internet-distributed translations of manga
• sitcom from situation and comedy
• smark from smart and mark - professional wrestling slang for fans who recognize the scripted nature of the business, but still enjoy the in-ring entertainment
• Somari from Sonic and Mario. This game was a pirated hack of Sonic the Hedgehog casting Mario instead.
• streetball from street and basketball
• threatmantic from threatening and romantic, used to describe threatening love notes
• Waluigi from Wario and Luigi, he is Wario's brother (i.e. evil variation of Luigi).

Organizations and companies

• Accenture from accent and future (accent on the future)
• Carborundum (original manufacturer of the abrasive, carborundum) from carbon and corundum.
• Compaq from computer, pack, and compact (to denote a small integral object)
• CONMEBOL from Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (Spanish for "South American Football Confederation")
• CONELRAD from control (of) electromagnetic radiation
• Debian from founder Ian Murdock and his wife Debra
• Edexcel from educational and excellence
• Froogle from frugal and Google. This is the online shopping branch of Google. Oddly enough, this term is a homonym for one of the words it comes from.
• Googlepedia from Google and Wikipedia to describe a possible cooperation project.
• Intel from integrated and electronics; could also act as a short variation of intelligent therefore Intel devices are intelligent in terms of technology.
• Nicorette from nicotine and cigarette - a brand name for an anti-nicotine gum.
• Verizon from veritas (Latin for truth) and horizon
• Waitrose from founders' names Wallace Waite and Arthur Rose
• Wexis is a humorous term used to refer to the two academic publishing conglomerates which dominate the legal information services industry, namely Westlaw and LexisNexis.
• Wikibooks from wiki and books which is a project for a collection of free textbooks, manuals, and other texts, with supporting book-based texts, that is written collaboratively on its website.
• Wikinews from wiki and news which is a free content news source.
• Wiktionary from wiki and dictionary which is a sister project to Wikipedia intended to be a free wiki dictionary (thesaurus and lexicon therein) in every language.
• Wikipedia from wiki and encyclopedia which is a web-based free content encyclopedia that is openly edited and freely readable.
• Zend Technologies from the names of its founders, Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans.

Animals

• cama - from camel and llama
• cockapoo from Cocker and poodle
• geep from goat and sheep
• liger from lion and tiger
• mog from man and dog (from the movie Spaceballs)
• tigon from tiger and lion
• turducken from turkey, duck, and chicken
• zeedonk from zebra and donkey

Portmanteaux by Lewis Carroll from Jabberwocky

Some of these terms are nonce words, others are of questionable origin or have worked their way into common speech.

• brillig from begin and broiling, according to Humpty Dumpty, "four o'clock in the afternoon—the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."
• slithy from lithe and slimy.
• mimsy from flimsy and miserable.
• frumious from fuming and furious.
• burbled a possible mixture of bleat, murmur, and warble, but also a legitimate dictionary word, derived from the Middle English "burblen", and meaning a gurgling or bubbling sound.
• galumphing; to galumph is to gallop triumphantly.

Politics, economics and geography

• Odditorium from odd and auditorium - a museum that display exhibits beyond realistic imagination.
• Pennsyltucky from Pennsylvania and Kentucky-Referring to the area of Pennslyvania in the north and center of the state which is neither Philadelphia nor Pittsburg (and their respective suburbs). These areas tend to vote Republican (like Kentucky), while the urban and suburban areas are more Democratic.
• Reaganomics from Reagan and economics
• Rogernomics
• Rubinomics
• Ruthanasia
• Utaho from Utah and Idaho; this word is commonly used on the Idaho potato joke .

See also

• List of acronyms and initialisms
• List of syllabic abbreviations
• Portmanteau name