portmanteau

noun

port·​man·​teau pȯrt-ˈman-(ˌ)tō 

plural portmanteaus or portmanteaux pȯrt-ˈman-(ˌ)tōz 

1

or portmanteau word plural portmanteau words : a word or part of a word made by combining the spellings and meanings of two or more other words or word parts (such as smog from smoke and fog)

A portmanteau of "costume" and "play," cosplay by definition is the act of dressing up as a fictional character, with many of the costumes you find inspired by video games, film, or TV.

—Stephanie LaCava

2

old-fashioned : a large suitcase

When the steamboat bumped against the … pilings, the crowd eased back to allow the hands to erect the gangplank and bear trunks and portmanteaux to the dock for passengers to claim.

—Loren D. Estleman

He bent down and pulled out the heavy portmanteau from under the bed. He opened it and took out a medium-size red bag …

—Helon Habila

Did you know?

In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, Alice asks Humpty Dumpty to explain words from the nonsense poem "Jabberwocky" and is told that slithy is "like a portmanteau-there are two meanings packed up into one word." Although slithy hasn't caught on (it's made up of slimy and lithe, according to Humpty Dumpty), another portmanteau invented by Carroll has in fact found a place in the language: chortle (supposedly from chuckle and snort). English includes other portmanteaus, too, such as brunch (breakfast and lunch) and dramedy (drama and comedy). Following Carroll's lead, English speakers have come to call these fairly common words by the not-so-common name for a type of traveling bag with two compartments. The technical (and simpler) term for such words is blend.

Synonyms of portmanteau

• suitcase
• wallet

Examples of portmanteau in a Sentence

carried her possessions with her in an old portmanteau

Recent Examples on the Web

His party’s full name is the Respect and Freedom Party, but it’s known by a portmanteau of the first syllables of those Hungarian words. —Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2026

But the pop savant soon realized the goofy portmanteau spoke quite seriously to her current state of mind. —Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 27 Mar. 2026

The backstory Amanyara is a portmanteau of Aman, meaning ‘peace’ in Sanskrit, and Yara, meaning ‘place’ in the language of the Arawak people who once lived on Turks and Caicos. —Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 Mar. 2026

Maas is a major player in the romantasy — a portmanteau of romance and fantasy — genre, which has soared in popularity on TikTok. —Katie Simons, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle French portemanteau, from porter to carry + manteau mantle, from Latin mantellum — more at port

First Known Use

1553, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing portmanteau

• portmanteau film

Rhymes for portmanteau

• adagio
• altiplano
• arapaho
• arapahoe
• fortissimo
• manifesto
• minangkabau
• oregano
• ostinato
• pistachio
• politico
• portfolio

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Kids Definition

portmanteau

noun

port·​man·​teau

pōrt-ˈman-tō, 

pȯrt-

plural portmanteaus or portmanteaux

-tōz

: traveling bag