Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Aug 23, 2021
This week’s theme
Blend words

This week’s words
grum
meld
splurge
greige
rumption

Previous week’s theme
Shoes
Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

We have tragicomedy (tragedy + comedy), comitragedy (comedy + tragedy), and dramedy (drama + comedy). The latest genre blend that appeared on my radar is crimedy, perhaps a blend of (crime + comedy) or (crime + tragedy), though with Steve Martin, my guess is it’s the first one:

crimedy

“’Only Murders in the Building,’ a new Crimedy series with Selena Gomez, Martin Short and me, starts on Hulu August 31st.” Permalink

These are examples of blend words, coined by fusing two or more words. Such a word is also known as a portmanteau.

There’s still a lot of genre-mining to be done. What new genre blends can you come up with? Pick two or more from this list of genres and come up with your own blockbuster motion picture. Post your new genres below or email us at words@wordsmith.org. Also include an explanation of that brand-new genre. Hollywood agents, please contact our readers directly.

Meanwhile, this week we’ll feature some words that appeared to be coined by fusing two words together.

grum

PRONUNCIATION:
(gruhm)

MEANING:
adjective: Surly, gloomy, or stern.

ETYMOLOGY:
Probably a blend of grim + glum. Earliest documented use: 1640.

USAGE:
“The winners, who were happy, and the losers, who were grum and captious.”
Lew Wallace; Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ; Harper; 1880.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
There is no such thing as a 'self-made' man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts. -George Matthew Adams, newspaper columnist (23 Aug 1878-1962)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith