fbpx

KidsKonnect

Portmanteau Worksheets

Portmanteau is blending of two words together to make a new word with its own special meaning. Through blending the sound and meaning of two existing words, a portmanteau creates a new expression that is a linguistic blend of the two individual terms.

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /English Language Arts /Vocabulary /Portmanteau Worksheets

Premium
Portmanteau Worksheets
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

A portmanteau is a new term formed by combining two words representing a joined meaning. It is typically formed by joining the first segment of one word to the final segment of another, but it can also be formed in other ways, such as by combining both initial segments.

See the fact file below for more information about Portmanteau, or download the comprehensive worksheet pack, which contains over 11 worksheets and can be used in the classroom or homeschooling environment.

Key Facts & Information

Portmanteau

  • The new word combines the sounds and meanings of the original words.
  • It is a literary device for linguistic creativity that extends the limits of language.
  • It is similar to a contraction in that words are united in a reduced form, but a contraction uses apostrophes, such as “couldn’t,” which is a short form of “could not,” but a portmanteau is a combination of two or more existing words to communicate a single thought.
  • It also differentiates from a compound term, which is a combination of words without a hyphen in such a way that the entire words are used in a compound example, starfish and pancake. In contrast, portmanteau uses only part/s of each term.

Origin

  • Lewis Carroll coined the term in his 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass. In the book, Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice how the unusual words in Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky” were created. Humpty Dumpty explained the practice of combining words in various ways, such as slithy, which was formed by combining slimy and lithe, and mimsy, which was formed from miserable and flimsy.
  • Jabberwocky began with:

“’ Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.”

  • There was a common type of luggage at the time called “portmanteau,” which is a leather suitcase that opens into two equal parts. Humpty Dumpty explained to Alice that the poem’s unusual words were combined in the same way that the luggage was made up of two parts but functioned as one.
    • However, in modern French, portmanteau means clothes valet or furniture used for hanging jackets, hats, and umbrellas.
  • He used the term “portmanteau” again in a lexical selection in his 1876 poem. He took the words “fuming” and “furious” as an example. He stated that if a person receives the rarest gift, he will be puzzled as to which word to use first to express his reaction and thus will use the word “frumious.”
  • The derivation of the word portmanteau that refers to a suitcase is itself a portmanteau or blending of words, according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (AHD). It is a combination of the French terms porter and manteau, which indicate “to carry” and “cloak,” respectively.
  • Occasionally, it was referred to as the frankenword, which was made by merging “Frankenstein” and “word.”

English Examples

  • Brunch, a combination of breakfast and lunch, was first used as a portmanteau in Punch or The London Charivari, a British weekly humor and satire magazine, in 1896.
  • Tanzania, a combination of its previous names, was formed in 1964 when the newly independent African republics of Tanganyika and Zanzibar united.
  • Microsoft is also a combination of the words microcomputer and software.
  • Velcro is a portmanteau of the French words velours and crochet, which mean “velvet” and “hook,” respectively. It is a paired woven tape made of nylon, polyester, and Nomex that is composed of a loop tape and a hook tape.
  • In 2010, the word “refudiate” became acknowledged as the Word of the Year in the New Oxford American Dictionary after American Politician Sarah Palin misspoke the words refute and repudiate and instead spoke them as one.

Name-meshing

  • Two proper names are also blended to represent a partnership between famous people.
  • Billary referred to the married US president Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton.
  • Critics of Vladimir Putin used the word Putler merging his name with Adolf Hitler. The term emerged during the 2022 war between Russia and Ukraine and was used in slogans by Russians.

Technology-related Portmanteaus

  • Cyborg is a combination of cybernetics and organism, referring to a creature with machine parts.
  • Pinterest is a combination of the words pin and interest, and it refers to a website for categorizing images found on the internet.
  • The webinar is a combination of the words web and seminar, and it refers to an educational presentation that is made available online.
  • Kinect is a combination of the words kinetic and connect, and it refers to a motion sensor feature of a gaming console that allows users to interact without the use of a controller.

Japanese Portmanteau

  • In Japanese, it is formed by taking the beginnings of each origin word.
  • One example is the name Tōdai for the University of Tokyo, which is the combination of Tōkyō and daigaku, a term referring to the post-secondary educational institution.
  • The 1990s Tamagotchi is a blending of the Japanese terms for egg and watches, which are Tamago and uotchi.
  • Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise featuring creatures called Pokémons which are caught, trained, cared for, and battle with other Pokémon. The term is a contracted form of the English words pocket and monsters which are poketto and monsutā in Japanese.
  • Karaoke is a blend of words from mixed sources. It is composed of the Japanese word “kara,” which means empty, and the Greek word “ōkesutora,” which means orchestra.

Geographic Portmanteaus

Korean Provinces

  • During the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1897), seven of the Korean provinces were named combining the initial characters of their two major cities.
  • In the 1890s, these provinces were reorganized, but the names are still in use.
    • Chungcheong Province with Chungju and Cheongju as former provinces
    • Gangwon Province with Gangneung and Wonju as former provinces
    • Gyeongsang Province with Gyeongju and Sangju as former provinces
    • Hamgyong Province with Hamhung and Kyongsong as former provinces
    • Hwanghae Province with Hwangju and Haeju as former provinces
    • Jeolla Province with Jeonju and Naju as former provinces (The first character of Naju is actually “ra”—”r” changes to “n” in the initial position, and the combination “nr” changes to “ll” due to phonological characteristics of the Korean language)
    • Pyongan Province with Pyongyang and Anju as former provinces

Most Common Fields Using Portmanteau

  • It allows authors, who utilize words the most, to use a single term that can capture the essence of their meaning to be as clear and concise as possible. It also allows them to express themselves creatively because they are free to create new words by combining two existing words. Popular writers who frequently used such words in their works include Charles Dickens, James Joyce, and Lewis Carroll.
  • It was common in the literary world, but portmanteau is also used in technological and scientific fields, primarily for novel discoveries.
  • It allows such fields to use a more specific term rather than stating the entire meaning. For example, using the term genome rather than “all the genes contained in the chromosomes” is preferable.

Portmanteau Worksheets

This bundle contains 10 ready-to-use Portmanteau worksheets that are perfect to test student knowledge and understanding of Portmanteau, which is the blending of two words together to make a new word with its own special meaning.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an example of a portmanteau?

Cyborg is a combination of cybernetics and organism, referring to a creature with machine parts.

Why is it called a portmanteau?

The derivation of the word portmanteau that refers to a suitcase is itself a portmanteau or blending of words, according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (AHD). It is a combination of the French terms porter and manteau, which indicate “to carry” and “cloak,” respectively.

What is another word for portmanteau?

Occasionally, it was referred to as the frankenword, which was made by merging “Frankenstein” and “word.”

Is breakfast a portmanteau?

Brunch, a combination of breakfast and lunch, was first used as a portmanteau in Punch or The London Charivari, a British weekly humor and satire magazine, in 1896.

What are two words put together called?

A portmanteau is a new term formed by combining two words representing a joined meaning. It is typically formed by joining the first segment of one word to the final segment of another, but it can also be formed in other ways, such as by combining both initial segments.

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Portmanteau Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, February 26, 2018

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources