Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Contemporary (2000–) ·1994
Metrosexual
metropolitan heterosexual
- Meaning
- A straight urban man who invests in grooming, fashion, and aesthetics.
- Source words
- metropolitan + heterosexual
- Coined by
- Mark Simpson
- Year
- 1994
Background
Journalist Mark Simpson coined it in *The Independent* to describe a new archetype then emerging. David Beckham became the poster child by 2002, and the word went global.
Contemporary (2000–)
Faster coinage, faster canonisation. Brexit and podcast both reached the OED within a decade of first use — historically rapid. Social media has made visibility, not invention, the rate-limiting step.
Two words, one coinage.
Browse every portmanteau on the shelf — or cross over to the loanwords atlas.