Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·The Victorian portmanteau ·1871
Chortle
chuckle snort
- Meaning
- To laugh in a gleeful, slightly breathless way.
- Source words
- chuckle + snort
- Coined by
- Lewis Carroll
- Year
- 1871
Background
Coined in "Jabberwocky" ("O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! / He chortled in his joy"). The only Carroll coinage from that poem that fully entered standard English.
The Victorian portmanteau
Lewis Carroll didn't invent portmanteau-making, but he named the technique and demonstrated it with enough flair that the word-class is often traced to him. Two of the words here are direct Carroll coinages.
Two words, one coinage.
Browse every portmanteau on the shelf — or cross over to the loanwords atlas.