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 “breakfast” and “lunch” in a delectable combination that denotes the meal that occurs in late morning or early afternoon — usually on weekends, sometimes including alcohol. Brunch menus tend to include both traditional breakfast and lunch fare, as the culinary lines are a bit more blurred than at other meals.
The earliest use of “brunch” dates to the late 19th century. An August 1, 1896, edition of the British magazine Punch mentions not only brunch, but also “blunch.” It reads, “The combination-meal, when nearer the usual breakfast hour, is ‘brunch,’ and, when nearer luncheon, is ‘blunch.’” Of course, the portmanteau “blunch” has faded into obscurity, whereas “brunch” has gained in popularity.
The portmanteau “chillax” tells someone to tone it down. It blends together the words “chill” and “relax,” which are synonymous commands, and it became a popular slang alternative when it was coined sometime in the mid-1990s. Now that the ’90s are back in style, “chillax” can be revived for a quick way to warn someone to take it easy without coming across as too stern or formal.
“Motel” is a portmanteau with origins dating back to the 1920s, a time when personal motor vehicles were becoming more popular. It fuses the words “motorside” and “hotel” to refer to a type of lodging with a large parking lot, often built alongside major roadways. Nowadays, the word “motel” describes a style of hotel where each room is accessed directly from the parking lot, as opposed to through a communal lobby like in a more traditional hotel.
Abraham Lincoln, Elizabeth II, and Mozart have all been the subject of cinematic biopics — a genre that combines “biographical” with “picture.” Biopics are movies that dramatize real events and tell the life stories of famous figures in an entertaining way. One of this portmanteau’s earliest uses came in a 1947 Variety article about Till the Clouds Roll By — a film about the life of composer Jerome Kern.
The term “smog” is believed to date to 1905, when it was used by scientist H. A. Des Voeux. He coined this term by blending the words “smoke” and “fog” to bring attention to the polluted, hazy skies throughout the British Isles. Today, there are widely considered to be two types of smog. The first is “sulfurous smog,” the type that used to plague London, which is caused by burning fossil fuels. The other type is “photochemical smog,” which is prevalent in areas such as Los Angeles, where there’s a high density of motor vehicle emissions.
Everyone seems to have a podcast today, but we may not have had the word for these audio programs if not for Apple’s iPod, as the portmanteau combines “iPod” with “broadcast.” One of the earliest uses, if not the earliest, can be traced back to British author Ben Hammersley, who proposed the term “podcasting” in a 2004 Guardian article about the burgeoning entertainment medium. While iPods are no longer produced by Apple, this portmanteau continues to maintain its lasting appeal.
It’s a spoon … it’s a fork … no, it’s a spork! The history of this spoonlike fork dates back to before the portmanteau was coined. Dr. Samuel W. Francis filed a patent for a sporklike utensil in 1874, though it had the much more convoluted name of “Combined Knives, Forks and Spoons.” The word “spork” later appeared in a 1909 supplement to the Century Dictionary, suggesting it was coined in the intervening years. But it wasn’t until 1951 that the term was registered for a trademark, when inventor Hyde W. Ballard used “spork” to refer to a “combination spoon and fork made of stainless steel.”
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