You hear and use them every day, perhaps without realizing why they’re special. I’m referring to what linguists call blends: new words created via the marriage of two other words.
Familiar words of this type include the computer term bit (binary + digit), brunch (breakfast + lunch), smog (smoke + fog), and Spam – the edible kind (spiced + ham).
They’ve also been called telescope words and centaur words. Lewis Carroll called them “portmanteau words.” That reference is now rather obscure, but back in the day, a portmanteau was a traveling bag that opened into two compartments. Thus, as Carroll defined the term in Through the Looking-Glass: “two meanings packed up into one word.” And, by the way, several of Carroll’s own blended-word coinages are still used, most notably chortle (chuckle + snort).
Decades ago, Time magazine and the gossip columnist Walter Winchell were known for devising new blends, some of which survived while others faded away. Among them: cinemactress, frauditor, genethics, guesstimate, and infanticipating.
If you keep your eyes and ears open, you’ll discover that the list of blend words is surprisingly long: advertorial, camcorder, Chunnel, glasphalt, infomercial, Jazzercise, minicam, pixel, and sitcom, for example. Because new things are constantly being created, and they all need names, the roster will surely continue to grow.
Here are a few more, the origins of which may not be immediately apparent:
- guacamole: from the Aztec ahuacamolli – a conflation of ahucatl (avocado) + molli (sauce or paste).
- happenstance: from happen + circumstance.
- Tanzania: from the names of two countries, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, that merged in 1964.
- Velcro: from the French velours (velvet) + croche (hooked). The ubiquitous fastener was invented in Switzerland.
[Ed Note: For more than three decades, Don Hauptman was an award-winning independent direct-response copywriter and creative consultant. He is author of The Versatile Freelancer, an e-book recently published by AWAI that shows writers and other creative professionals how to diversify their careers into speaking, consulting, training, and critiquing.]
Similar Articles:
- Dilatory – “Dilatory” (DIL-uh-tor-ee) – from the Latin for “to delay” – means given to procrastination; tending…
- The Language Perfectionist: Words’ Worth – Are you a writer? A speaker? Whatever you do professionally, you need to communicate effectively. Th…
- Word to the Wise: Lamster – A “lamster” LAM-ster) – a word with obscure origins – is a fugitive, especially from the law. Exampl…
- Whats the difference between Advertisement and Highly Recommended? – “My question relates to an advertisement that appeared recently in Early to Rise. I notice that many…
- A Sure Way to Play Uranium – No commodity has disappointed more than uranium. But don’t let that put you off. Now is the perfect …
- Silver Spoonerisms – In honor of April Fool’s Day, let’s look once again at the lighter side of language. You’ve surely h…
- Word to the Wise: Syncretic – Something that’s "syncretic" (sin-KRET-ik) unites and blends together different systems (e…