FORMATION OF BLENDINGS

Formation of Blendings

Most blends are formed by one of the following methods.The word formation processes of compounding, clipping, and blending are important concepts when creating words. Also included for download are vocabulary lists of common English compounds, clipped words, and blends.

Compounding

Compounding is the word formation process in which two or more lexemes combine into a single new word. Compound words may be written as one word or as two words joined with a hyphen. For example:

• noun-noun compound: note + book → notebook
• adjective-noun compound: blue + berry → blueberry
• verb-noun compound: work + room → workroom
• noun-verb compound: breast + feed → breastfeed
• verb-verb compound: stir + fry → stir-fry
• adjective-verb compound: high + light → highlight
• verb-preposition compound: break + up → breakup
• preposition-verb compound: out + run → outrun
• adjective-adjective compound: bitter + sweet → bittersweet
• preposition-preposition compound: in + to → into

Compounds may be compositional, meaning that the meaning of the new word is determined by combining the meanings of the parts, or noncompositional, meaning that the meaning of the new word cannot be determined by combining the meanings of the parts. For example, a blueberry is a berry that is blue. However, a breakup is not a relationship that was severed into pieces in an upward direction.

1. The beginning of one word is added to the end of the other . For example, brunch is a blend of breakfast and lunch.
• simultaneous (5) + broadcast (2) → simulcast (3, exception)
• smoke (1) + fog (1) → smog (1)
• spoon (1) + fork (1) → spork (1)
2. The beginnings of two words are combined. For example, cyborg is a blend of cybernetic and organism.
3. Two words are blended around a common sequence of sounds. For example, the word Californication, from a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is a blend of California and fornication, and the word motel is a blend of motor and hotel
4. Multiple sounds from two component words are blended, while mostly preserving the sounds' order. Poet Lewis Carroll was well known for these kinds of blends. An example of this is the word slithy, a blend of lithe and slimy.

When two words are combined in their entirety, the result is considered a compound word rather than a blend. For example, bagpipe is a compound, not a blend, of bag and pipe.