What are some uncommon but valid portmanteau words that people use?
Solution 1:
Here are a few that have entries in the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary:
- advertorial (advertisement + editorial)
- agitprop (agitation + propaganda) [originally from Russian]
- alphanumeric (alphabetic + numeric)
- avionics (aviation + electronics)
- beefalo (beef + buffalo)
- biopic (biographical + motion picture)
- bit (binary + digit)
- blaxploitation (blacks + exploitation)
- Bollywood (Bombay + Hollywood)
- brunch (breakfast + lunch)
- cablecast (cable + broadcast)
- carjack (car + hijack)
- chortle (chuckle + snort)
- cineplex (cimena + complex)
- codec (coder + decoder)
- digerati (digital + literati)
- docudrama (documentary + drama)
- dramedy (drama + comedy)
- ebonics (ebony + phonics)
- edutainment (education + entertainment)
- emoticon (emotion + icon)
- fantabulous (fantastic + fabulous)
- franglais (français + anglais) [french][french]
- Frankenfood (Frankenstein + food)
- freeware (free + software)
- frenemy (friend + enemy)
- gaydar (gay + radar)
- ginormous (gigantic + enormous)
- guesstimate (guess + estimate)
- infomercial (information + commercial)
- infotainment (information + entertainment)
- liger (lion + tiger)
- malware (malicious + software)
- meld, meaning merge or blend (melt + weld)
- mockumentary (mock + documentary)
- modem (modulator + demodulator)
- moped (motor + pedal)
- motel (motor + hotel)
- napalm (naphthene + palmitate)
- netizen (net + citizen)
- newscast (news + broadcast)
- pixel (picture + element)
- radome (radar + dome)
- redox (reduction + oxidation)
- shareware (share + software)
- simulcast (simultaneous + broadcast)
- sitcom (situation + comedy)
- skort (skirt + shorts)
- skyjack (sky + hijack)
- smog (smoke + fog)
- soundscape (sound + landscape)
- Spanglish (Spanish + English)
- squiggle (squirm + wriggle)
- stagflation (stagnation + inflation)
- sysop (system + operator)
- tangelo (tangerine + pomelo)
- televangelist (television + evangelist)
- thermistor (thermal + resistor)
- tigon (tiger + lion)
- transceiver (transmitter + receiver)
- transponder (transmitter + responder)
- vlog (video + blog)
- voxel (volume + pixel)
- webisode (web + episode)
Solution 2:
Lewis Carrol made this into an art form. One of my favorites from "Alice in Wonderland" was "Frumious" it is a combination of "Fuming" and "Furious"
Solution 3:
spork
Solution 4:
Crocoduck
The crocoduck denotes an hybrid animal with the head a of crocodile and the body of a duck, which became recurrent in debates involving creationists and proponents of evolution, being used as a symbol directed at those who do not understand the basic principles of evolution.