A.Word.A.Day --guyliner

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Jan 19, 2026

This week’s theme
Blend words

This week’s words
guyliner

Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator, 1940

Photo: United Artists / Wikimedia

Previous week’s theme
New words

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

The other day, while out for a walk, I came across this sign in front of a house:
“Please No Trespooping”
This blend of trespass and poop brought a smile. It also raised questions.

Are there dogs who actually break into houses to do their business?
Would it be acceptable if dogs relieved themselves in front of the sign, on the public road, with no trespassing involved?
Trespassing plus pooping is forbidden, but what if only one of the two is performed?

OK, so it was just a friendly request, not a lawyerly contract. The word trespooping has not yet made it into the dictionaries, but it deserves admission. When it does we will be sure to give you the scoop. Meanwhile, someone has almost certainly deposited it in the Urban Dictionary, a site that welcomes all sorts of contributions.

Until then, we’ll feature some other words that are made by blending two others. These are already in dictionaries, even if they look like they were coined yesterday. Another word for a blend word is portmanteau, a term coined by Lewis Carroll, which itself is coined by blending two words.

Have you coined a blend word? What words have you portmanteaued? Share below or email us at words@wordsmith.org. Please include your location (city, state). Also, don’t forget to google first to make sure your invention isn’t already out there. Great minds often blend alike.

guyliner

PRONUNCIATION:

(GY-ly-nuhr)

MEANING:

noun: Eyeliner used by men.

ETYMOLOGY:

A blend of guy + eyeliner. Earliest documented use: 2004.

NOTES:

The word eyeliner has been a part of the English language since 1929, but it took some 75 years for the guys to catch up. It’s a good reminder that the absence of a label doesn’t mean a thing doesn’t exist. While English records eyeliner only from 1929, the practice of accentuating the eyes with cosmetics goes back thousands of years. Yes, and you bet men have been doing it just as long.

USAGE:

“I braved clear mascara, then black; risked losing an eye when crudely applying the obligatory guyliner in the mid-00s to ape Brandon Flowers.”
Justin Myers; Makeup for Men: Will Blokes Go Big for Bronzer?; The Guardian (London, UK); Aug 22, 2017.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

On stage, I make love to 25,000 different people, then I go home alone. -Janis Joplin, singer-songwriter (19 Jan 1943-1970)

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