Portmanfaux

[diffrentcolours]

I frequently come up with bad, forced portmanteaux. Today I invented the word "portmalteau" to describe them - it's a self-demonstrating example being a forced portmanteau of "portmanteau" and "mal".

I had it in my mind that "portmanteau" was also a portmanteau, but it isn't. So I invented the word "portmanfaux" for words you think are a portmanteau but aren't.

Wonderfully, "portmanteau" is a portmanfaux, and "portmanfaux" is a portmanteau.

Comments

[steorra]

I almost want the latter word to be "fauxrtmanteau".