{"id":9859,"date":"2018-05-09T13:07:25","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T13:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=9859"},"modified":"2018-05-09T13:07:25","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T13:07:25","slug":"german-kofferworter-portmanteau-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-kofferworter-portmanteau-words\/","title":{"rendered":"German Kofferw\u00f6rter (Portmanteau Words)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today the topic is all about German Kofferw\u00f6<\/span>rter<\/strong>. These are words that mix two or more existing words together to create a new word with a blended meaning. These are what the English call portmanteau words.<\/strong> Examples in English include Brexit (Britain + Exit, to describe Britain exiting the EU), smog (smoke + fog), and many, many more (motel, brunch, etc.) In this post I\u2019d like to show you some German portmanteau words<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Das Kofferwort<\/h2>\n

Firstly, why the name? Das Kofferwort is made up the words der Koffer<\/strong> (suitcase) and das Wort<\/strong> (word). It is a translation of the French mot-valise<\/strong>, which is a back-translation of the English suitcase word <\/i>(from French portmanteau<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Alternative names for a Kofferwort in German include das Kunstwort<\/strong> (\u2018art word\u2019, made-up word) and das Schachtelwort<\/strong> (\u2018box word\u2019).<\/p>\n

\"\"

Image via Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

Seven examples of German Kofferw\u00f6<\/span>rter:<\/h2>\n

Teuro<\/strong> \u2013 A combination of teuer (expensive) & Euro (German currency), first used in 1997 as a reference to the rise in price with the introduction of the Euro to Germany.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mainhattan<\/strong> \u2013 A combination of the German river Main & Manhattan in New York, used to describe the central business district in Frankfurt, which lies on the River Main. Because there are so many banks there, the district is also sometimes referred to as Bankfurt<\/strong> \u2013 a combination of Bank and Frankfurt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kreuzk\u00f6<\/span>lln<\/strong> \u2013 The district of Berlin between Kreuzburg and Neuk\u00f6lln.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jein<\/strong> \u2013 A combination of the words Ja and Nein, used when the answer to a question appears a little more complicated than a simple yes or no.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Denglisch<\/strong> \u2013 Acombination of the words Deutsch and Englisch, to describe the way German uses English words and vice-versa.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Verschlimmbesserung<\/strong> \u2013 A combination of the words Verschlimmerung (to make something worse) and Verbesserung (to make something better). This describes an attempt to make something better that ends up making it worse, instead. Read more on this word here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nichtsdestotrotz<\/strong> \u2013 This combines the words nichtsdestoweniger (Nevertheless) and trotzdem (Despite that).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note: A Kofferwort is not the same as a compound noun!<\/h3>\n

German is famous for its compound nouns<\/strong>, and these can sometimes get mixed up with Kofferw\u00f6<\/span>rter. A compound noun is when two or more words are put together to create a new one, whereas a Kofferwort is when two or more words are \u2018mixed\u2019 to create a new one. Below are some examples to show you the difference:<\/p>\n

Compound noun:<\/strong> das Abendessen (Abend + Essen = \u2018evening meal\u2019 = dinner. Full words are used.)
\nKofferwort:<\/strong> Denglisch (D from Deutsch + Englisch = mix of German and English)<\/p>\n

(Even the word Kofferwort is a compound noun!)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Can you think of any more Kofferw\u00f6<\/span>rter? If so, let me know and I\u2019ll add them to the post!<\/p>\n

Bis bald<\/p>\n

Constanze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Today the topic is all about German Kofferw\u00f6rter. These are words that mix two or more existing words together to create a new word with a blended meaning. These are what the English call portmanteau words. Examples in English include Brexit (Britain + Exit, to describe Britain exiting the EU), smog (smoke + fog), and…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":9860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3083,33116,503854,375970,358423,95131,503981,376023,499,503982,13,1401],"class_list":["post-9859","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-abbreviations","tag-compounded-nouns","tag-curious-words","tag-german-and-english","tag-german-compound-nouns","tag-german-language","tag-kofferwort","tag-language","tag-language-learning","tag-portmanteau-words","tag-vocabulary","tag-words"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9859"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9865,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9859\/revisions\/9865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}