Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Late 20th century ·1991
Pescatarian
pescado vegetarian
- Meaning
- A vegetarian who also eats fish and seafood.
- Source words
- pescado + vegetarian
- Coined by
- unknown
- Year
- 1991
Background
From Italian *pesce* (fish) spliced into *vegetarian*. A logical gap in diet vocabulary — no common word had named fish-eating vegetarians before the 1990s. Sometimes spelled *pescetarian* with the Italian-faithful *e*.
Late 20th century
Marketing, media, and the early internet. Infomercial, emoticon, workaholic — the coinages name phenomena of mass media and white-collar life. Several predate the decades they're associated with.
Two words, one coinage.
Browse every portmanteau on the shelf — or cross over to the loanwords atlas.