Blended Words in English

Blended words can be confusing to people learning the English language, because unlike adding an affix, i.e., prefix, suffix or infix, they are made up of two words, usually the beginning of one and the end of another, to form a new word.Sometimes you may find these blended words in the dictionary, but sometimes you won't. You can look them up on the Internet, though.

 Listed here are some of the more commonly used blended words with an example sentence.

→ chortle – a word made by combining chuckle and snort.
     ‘When Mary saw the cartoon she chortled.'

→ guesstimate - a word made by combing guess and estimate.
     ‘I’m not sure how much that car costs, but I guesstimate around thirty thousand dollars.’

→ melodrama - a word made by combing melody and drama.
     ‘Meg stop making a melodrama out of everything, you exaggerate your emotions so much!’

→ motel – a word made by combing motor and hotel.
     ‘I drive a semi truck for a living and I usually sleep at motels.’

→ republicrat – a word made by combining Republican and Democrat.
     ‘I’m not really a republican nor democrat, but I agree with parts of both sides, so I must be a republicrat.'

→ smog - a word made by combining smoke and fog.
     ‘Los Angeles, California is well known for having a lot of smog.'

→ spork - a word made by combining spoon and fork.
     ‘Plastic sporks are usually included in take out meals.’

→televangelist - a word made by combining television and evangelist.
     ‘A televangelist is a preacher who gives sermons on TV.’

→ emoticon - a word made by combining emotion and icon.
     ‘You can find thousands of emoticons online these days.’

→ Internet - a word made by combining inter and network.
     ‘The Internet links millions of computers worldwide.’

→ freeware - a word made by combining free and software.
     ‘Many sites online offer freeware as an alternative to buying software.’

→ gasohol - a word made by combining gas and alcohol.
     ‘My grandfather’s car runs on gasohol.’

→ docudrama - a word made by combining documentary and drama.
     ‘Michael Moore has produced some very good docudramas.’

→ infomercial - a word made by combining information and commercial.
     ‘There are far too many infomercials on television these days.’

→ Bollywood - a word made by combining Bombay and Hollywood.
     ‘I love Bollywood films, however they are longer than American films and very dramatic.’

→ dancercise - a word made by combining dance and exercise.
     ‘Dancercise is much more fun than plain exercise.’

→ brunch – a word made by combining breakfast and lunch.
     ‘Let’s meet Monday for brunch, about 11:00 a.m.’

→ dumbfound – a word made by combining dumb and confound.
     I was really dumbfounded by the the acts of violence in the street fight.’

→ sitcom - a word made by combining situation and comedy
     ‘Sometimes I just like to watch sitcoms when I feel bad. They make me laugh.’

These are not all of them, there are many, many more. Some are more common, like the ones I have listed here and some you may never see used. Just remember that these word forms exist and sometimes when you can’t find a word in the dictionary and you cannot guess the meaning, trying looking it up under blended words.

If you have any that you find interesting, or just want to add to the list, feel free to leave a comment or email me.

Have a great day!