1
brunch = breakfast + lunch.
8 Portmanteau Words Examples
Use these examples to study structure, specificity, tone, and variation. They are demonstrations—not claims about a real person or organization unless the example itself makes that explicit.
Before you copy
What to notice in the examples
Strong portmanteaus are recognizable enough that readers can recover the source concepts, while the blend remains pronounceable, memorable, and useful rather than looking like an arbitrary collision of letters.
- Start with the defining relationship behind portmanteau words: blending pieces of source words into a new lexical form.
- Group examples by the feature that matters to a writer—sound, spelling, meaning, syllable pattern, formation, or usage—rather than presenting an unstructured list.
- Test each example in a sentence so readers can see how the word behaves in context and where common confusion occurs.
2
smog = smoke + fog.
3
motel = motor + hotel.
4
podcast = iPod + broadcast, historically.
5
mockumentary = mock + documentary.
6
spork = spoon + fork.
7
infotainment = information + entertainment.
8
workaholic = work + alcoholic, formed by analogy with alcoholic.
Keep the underlying decision or pattern, then replace the subject, evidence, relationship, constraints, and tone with details that belong to your situation. If your final line still works after swapping only one noun, it may be too close to the example.