From the Free Dictionary:
Quote:
port·man·teaus or port·man·teaux (-tōz, -tōz′)
1. A large leather suitcase that opens into two hinged compartments.
2.
a. A word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two different words, as chortle, from chuckle and snort. Also called portmanteau word.
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Let's see how many portmanteaux we can find. I'll start.
Most of us have heard of ginormous, a portmanteau of gigantic and enormous. And most of us have heard of humungous, a made-up word combining huge with mungous, which I don't think appears anywhere besides in humungous. Well, recently I heard someone say, while being interviewed on the news, gimungous, which is a portmanteau of a portmanteau (ginormous) and a made-up word (humungous.)
note: I will admit if pressed that the "gi" in gimungous could be from gigantic, but that wouldn't be as much fun.-)
Okay, go.