portmanteau

American  

[pawrt-man-toh, pawrt-man-toh] / pɔrtˈmæn toʊ, ˌpɔrt mænˈtoʊ /

noun

• portmanteaus,
  plural
• portmanteaux
  plural

1. Chiefly British. a case or bag to carry clothing in while traveling, especially a leather trunk or suitcase that opens into two halves.

2. Linguistics.

   1. Also called portmanteau word. a word that combines the form and meaning of two or more other words; a blend.

   2. Also called portmanteau morph. a phonological unit of more than one morpheme, as French au (to the) from à to + le masculine article, which realizes a preposition and the definite article; a single morph that is analyzed as representing two underlying morphemes.

3. something that combines or blends several items, features, or qualities.

   I've gathered a portmanteau of ideas from my colleagues.

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adjective

1. combining or blending several items, features, or qualities.

   a portmanteau film with two good stories.

portmanteau British  

/ pɔːtˈmæntəʊ /

noun

1. (formerly) a large travelling case made of stiff leather, esp one hinged at the back so as to open out into two compartments

2. (modifier) embodying several uses or qualities

   the heroine is a portmanteau figure of all the virtues

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• portmanteaus
  plural
• portmanteaux
  plural

Etymology

Origin of portmanteau

From French portemanteau literally, “(it) carries (the) cloak”; see port ⁵, mantle; portmanteau def. 1 was first recorded in 1575–85, and portmanteau def. 2a in 1871 in Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.

Explanation

A portmanteau is a large suitcase. The word comes from French porter "carry" and manteau "mantle, or cloak" — so it's what you carry your clothes in. Or, a portmanteau is a word made by combining two other words. You might remember portmanteau from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, where Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the portmanteau word, in which "two meanings are packed up into one word." So, according to Humpty Dumpty, slithy means "lithe and slimy," and mimsy is "flimsy and miserable." You can make your own portmanteau words, and here are some examples for inspiration: smog (smoke + fog); brunch (breakfast + lunch), sitcom (situation + comedy), and infomercial (information + commercial).

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

portmanteau portmanteaus portmanteaux

Its name is a portmanteau of Leitz—the surname of its then-owner—and camera.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

There’s a belief that nutraceuticals—a portmanteau of nutrition and pharmaceutical—can’t hurt because they’re natural, but “poisons are natural,” Barzilai says.

From Barron's ● May 21, 2026

Some call themselves healthmaxxers – sharing tips on what to eat and working out, while others identify as looksmaxxers, a portmanteau for 'looks maximising', where the aim is to totally "optimise" one's physical appearance.

From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026

SaaSpocalypse is the portmanteau combining the acronym for software-as-a-service, SaaS, with apocalypse.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 24, 2026

He wore a new hat now, and a new broadcloth coat, so they knew what the portmanteau had contained.

From "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner

As long as there have been neighborhoods, there have been portmanteaus meant to sell those neighborhoods and their potential trendiness.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2022

I happen to be a sucker for groany portmanteaus.

From Slate ● Feb. 9, 2022

The goofiest of these portmanteaus, and one of the more enduring, involved the carryall.

From New York Times ● Nov. 8, 2021

In that first iteration, the anonymous writer explained “hatriot” in almost bemused terms as just one then recent example of portmanteaus like “Republocrat”.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 7, 2019

They p. 5came to London to buy their portmanteaus, their toothbrushes, their writing-paper; they occasionally even recrossed the Atlantic westward to assure themselves that westward prices were still the same. 

From Lady Barbarina The Siege of London, An International Episode and Other Tales by Henry James

Poor grandfather," said Celia, "what a lot of times he said over, 'three black portmanteaux, four, no five canvas-covered, four carpet bags, one—fourteen in all.

From The Adventures of Herr Baby by Walter Crane

In fact, it was quite a carriage-ful of us that steamed away north-west from Paddington—namely, Smith, myself, Smith's father and mother, my father and mother, a number of boxes, portmanteaux, and parcels, and Smith's sister.

From Fifty-Two Stories For Girls by Alfred H. (Alfred Henry) Miles

He passed between two uniformed policemen with the utmost self-possession, even pausing there momentarily to give some instruction to a porter about the disposition of his portmanteaux.

From The Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley by Louis Tracy

Paul got out with the others, and walked forward to the guard's van, where he stood shivering in the raw night air by a small heap of portmanteaux and white clamped boxes.

From Vice Versa or A Lesson to Fathers by F. Anstey

Why, father, do you think I am married and drag about boxes and portmanteaux with me?

From More Tales by Polish Authors by Various