Blend

In morphology, the term blend is used for a lexeme that was deliberately created out of two (or more) base words by (often irregularly) deleting parts of the bases.


 * "A blend is here defined as a deliberate creation of a new word out of two (or rarely more) previously existing ones in a way which differs from the rules or pattterns of regular compounding." (Ronneberger-Sibold 2006:157)

It can therefore be descroibed as an improductive type of word formation by which a new word is formed out of the initial phoneme(s) of one word and the final phoneme(s) of another.

Term properties
The word-creation technique by which blends arise is called blending.

Examples

 * English guesstimate from estimate + guess, Spanglish from Spanish + English, smog from Smoke + Fog
 * German Bistrothek from Bistro + Diskothek

Synonyms

 * blend-word
 * amalgam
 * portmanteau word

Origin
According to the OED, the word blend goes back to the early 20th century.
 * "Blend-words, amalgams, or fusions may be defined as two or more words, often of cognate sense, telescoped as it were into one." (Pound 1914:1)
 * "Words of the type of electrocute..are often called portmanteau words, or better, blends." (Baugh 1935:377)

Comment
It is often argued that this type of word-formation does not belong to the I-language.

Link
Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

Other languages
German Wortverschmelzung