11 Portmanteau Words That Might Surprise You

Words like motel, brunch, and sitcom are easily recognizable as portmanteaux—terms created by merging sounds and meanings from two or more words, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary. (These examples come from combining motor and hotel, breakfast and lunch, and situation and comedy, respectively.) However, the portmanteaux featured here are far more discreet.

Chortle

Lewis Carroll not only introduced the term portmanteau but also gifted us chortle, likely a blend of snort and chuckle. This word debuted in his 1871 work, Through the Looking-Glass. The Oxford English Dictionary clarifies that it has no connection to churtle, meaning “to chirp.” Carroll also coined other portmanteaux in the same book, such as slithy (from lithe and slimy) and mimsy (from flimsy and miserable).

Bodacious

The term bodacious originated in the 1840s, initially meaning “complete, thorough, arrant,” as per the OED. By the 1970s, it evolved to signify “excellent, fabulous, great,” though it’s often linked to ’80s slang.

Velcro

Velcro, the renowned hook and loop fastener, is a registered trademark. Its name derives from the fusion of velours and croché, translating to “hooked velvet.”

Meld

The term meld, defined as “to merge, blend, or combine,” likely emerged in the 1930s from blending melt and weld, as noted by the Oxford English Dictionary. Vulcan mind-melding followed roughly three decades later.

Bit

Store this in your memory: the idea of a bit, or binary digit, has existed since the late 1940s.

Pixel

The term pixel, referring to “each of the tiny areas of uniform illumination that form an image on a television, computer screen, etc.,” is a blend of pix (meaning “pictures”) and el- (short for “element”). The Oxford English Dictionary’s earliest reference comes from a 1969 issue of The Proceedings of Society Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers: “We have chosen to sample at a 500 KC rate and define each sample as a picture element or pixel. Each pixel is sampled with 6-bit accuracy.”

Sony

Some company names are clever portmanteaux. While Groupon is clearly a mix of group and coupon, Sony blends the Latin sonus (meaning “sonic”) and sonny (meaning “little son”). As stated on Sony’s website, “Sony symbolizes a small, youthful team brimming with energy and passion for boundless creativity and groundbreaking ideas. ... The name Sony, easy to say and recognize in any language, carries a vibrant tone that aligns with the spirit of freedom and open-mindedness.”

Endorphin

The word endorphin was formed in the 1970s by merging the French endogène and morphine. It refers to the opiate-like peptides that activate just when you’re on the verge of quitting your jog.

Vitamin

In 1912, Polish biochemist Casimir Funk merged the Latin term vita, meaning life, with amine to create the term vitamine. By 1920, the e was dropped when it was discovered these compounds were not amines.

Tanzania

A portmanteau can also signify a destination. In 1964, the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in East Africa formed the nation of Tanzania.

Air pollution characterized by a hazy mixture of smoke and fog.

The term for this urban air pollution, which obstructs visibility in cities such as Los Angeles, was coined in the early 20th century by blending the words smoke and fog.