Portmanteau word facts for kids
A portmanteau word is made of other words, or parts of words. It comes from putting two (or more) other words together, like motel, from motor and hotel.
Origin
Portmanteau originally meant a type of suitcase with two separate parts for storage. The first use as a word combination appeared in Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking-Glass. There Humpty Dumpty explains that some of the unusual words in Jabberwocky are other words packed together into one word, as two parts of a portmanteau suitcase are packed together.
Examples
Portmanteau itself is an example, combining the French words for carry (porter) and coat (manteau) into a coat carrier. Wikipedia is a portmanteau of wiki (Hawaiian for fast) and encyclopedia.
Images for kids
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The original Gerrymander pictured in an 1812 cartoon. The word is a portmanteau of Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry's name with salamander.
