In linguistics, a blend is a word formed from parts of two other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.

Linguistics

Blends deal with the action of abridging and then combining various lexemes to form a new word. However, the process of defining which words are true blends and which are not is more complicated. The difficulty comes in determine which parts of a new word are "recoverable" (its root can be distinguished).

There are many types of blends, based on how they are formed. Algeo, a linguist, proposed dividing blends into three groups :

1. Phonemic Overlap: a syllable or part of a syllable is shared between two words
2. Clipping: the shortening of two words and then compounding them
3. Phenomic Overlap and Clipping: shortening of two words to a shared syllable and then compounding

However, classification of types of blends is not standard among all linguists.

Formation

Most blends are formed by one of the following methods:

1. The beginning of one word is added to the end of the other (see portmanteau word. For example, brunch is a blend of breakfast and lunch. One of the two may be a whole word if it is short. This is the most common method of blending. A monosyllabic word is divided into its onset and rime if necessary. A blend of this type typically has the same number of syllables as the second word.
   • broccoli (3) + cauliflower (4) → broccoflower (4)
   • breakfast (2) + lunch (1) → brunch (1)
   • camera (3) + recorder (3) → camcorder (3)
   • education (4) + entertainment (4) → edutainment (4)
   • information (4) + commercial (3) → infomercial (4, exception)
   • motor (2) + hotel (2) → motel (2)
   • simultaneous (5) + broadcast (2) → simulcast (3, exception)
   • smoke (1) + fog (1) → smog (1)
   • spoon (1) + fork (1) → spork (1)
   • stagnation (3) + inflation (3) → stagflation (3)

   When two words are combined in their entirety, the result is considered a compound word rather than a blend. For example, bagpipe is a compound, not a blend, of bag and pipe.

   Blending of two roots

   Blending can also apply to roots rather than words, for instance in Israeli Hebrew. "Israeli דחפור dakhpór ‘bulldozer' hybridizes (Mishnaic Hebrew>>)Israeli דחפ √dħp ‘push' and (Biblical Hebrew>>)Israeli חפר √ħpr ‘dig'1 Israeli שלטוט shiltút ‘zapping, surfing the channels, flipping through the channels' derives from (i) (Hebrew>)Israeli שלט shalát ‘remote control', an ellipsis – like English remote (but using the noun instead) – of the (widely known) compound שלט רחוק shalát rakhók – cf. the Academy of the Hebrew Language's שלט רחק shalát rákhak; and (ii) (Hebrew>)Israeli שטוט shitút ‘wandering, vagrancy'. Israeli שלטוט shiltút was introduced by the Academy of the Hebrew Language in 2 1996. Synchronically, it might appear to result from reduplication of the final consonant of shalát ‘remote control'. Another example of blending which has also been explained as mere reduplication is Israeli גחלילית gakhlilít ‘fire-fly, glow-fly, Lampyris'. This coinage by Hayyim Nahman Bialik blends (Hebrew>)Israeli גחלת gakhélet ‘burning coal' with (Hebrew>)Israeli לילה láyla ‘night'. Compare this with the unblended חכלילית khakhlilít ‘(black) redstart, Phœnicurus' (<gakhlilít includes a reduplication of the third radical of גחל √għl. This is incidentally how Ernest Klein explains gakhlilít. Since he is attempting to provide etymology, his description might be misleading if one agrees that Hayyim Nahman Bialik had blending in mind."