7 Portmanteaus You Use Every Day
The word “portmanteau” was created long ago for a large travel trunk capable of opening into two equal parts. It wasn’t until 1871 that the term was repurposed by Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Carroll’s version of a portmanteau was “a word that blends together the sounds
and meanings of two other words” — which is the primary usage today. If you’ve ever asked someone to brunch or checked into a motel, you’ve used one of these mashups. Here are a few of the most common portmanteaus that English speakers use regularly. This portmanteau combines the words...
