What is Portmanteau?

 

Kanaga said to Martha, “Shall we go out for brunch?”

Martha said, “Brunch. What is it? I’m hearing the word for the first time.”

Kanaga said. “Brunch is food that we have between Breakfast and Lunch. Brunch is a combination of the words Breakfast and Lunch. Breakfast + Lunch is Brunch. Br from the word Breakfast joins with unch from the word Lunch."

Martha, “Wow. I learnt a new word Brunch.”

Kanaga said, “These words are known as Portmanteau in English. Portmanteau is a combination of parts of different words. The word Smog is a portmanteau. It is a combination of Sm from the word Smoke and og from the word fog.

Some more examples are

Spork = Spoon + Fork

Emoticon = Emotion + Icon

Chillax = Chill + Relax

Email = Electronic + mail

Motel = Motorway + Hotel

.”

Martha asked, “Is portmanteau always a combination of two words?” 

Kanaga said, “No. Portmanteau can be a combination of two or more words. For example, the name of the dish turducken is got from the combination of the three words turkey+duck+hen. This is because turducken is made with all these 3 birds.”

Martha said, “Ok. I got some clarity about portmanteau. Let us go for brunch now."

Activity:

1. Can you guess the two words that are combined to form the following portmanteau words?

1.     Hangry 

2.     Romcom

3.     Biopic

 

Author – Anitha Selvanathan

Image – Pexels.com