frankenword
n. A word created from the parts of two or more existing words, particularly when the resulting term is awkward or unsightly.
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Etymology
Examples
2013
Machete Kills puts the tat in Mex-ploitation, the frankenword coined by writer-director Rodriguez to encapsulate his Latin-flavoured homage to exploitation films of the 1970s and 1980s.
—Damon Smith, “Not much spice but plenty of gore in ‘Mexploitation’ dud,” Bradford Telegraph and Argus, October 11, 2013
2012
Use is probably the ultimate arbiter and we'll see whether newer frankenwords like FRENEMY, COCACOLONISATION and FAUXHAWK become as unremarkable and unobjectionable as BRUNCH, SMOG and MOTORCADE — or whether they're destined to the same dustbin as the nineteenth-century INSINUENDO and Virginia Woolf's SCROLLOPING, which to my ears has a sound that's too fun to denote "heavily intricate".
—Alan Connor, “Crossword roundup: chillaxing with my frenemies,” The Guardian, October 08, 2012
2004 (earliest)
As you can see, the challenge is to find a title with the least relevance to the business in which your company is actually engaged. Pseudo-Latin wankery (hello Altria, Navigant, Conixant, Candesant, Veriton and Vivident) is popular, as are gruesome frankenwords such as Consignia, which was adopted by the British post office for 15 months before it reverted to the completely out-there Royal Mail.
—Emma Tom, “A cancer stick by any other name would smell just as foul,” The Australian, January 21, 2004
Notes
A new word created from a blend of two or more other words is also called a portmanteau, and many linguistic authorities assert that portmanteau and Frankenword are synonymous. However, if you look at the usage, people are wielding Frankenword as an insult, hence my addition that such a word also lacks euphony. Therefore, I submit that Frankenword itself is not a Frankenword, but a garden-variety portmanteau.
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