Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Contemporary (2000–) ·2003
Fauxhawk
faux mohawk
- Meaning
- A hairstyle mimicking a mohawk without shaving the sides.
- Source words
- faux + mohawk
- Coined by
- fashion/hair industry
- Year
- 2003
Background
Coined during the David Beckham haircut wave of the mid-2000s. A rare portmanteau that combines a French loan word ("faux") with an Indigenous ethnonym.
Contemporary (2000–)
Faster coinage, faster canonisation. Brexit and podcast both reached the OED within a decade of first use — historically rapid. Social media has made visibility, not invention, the rate-limiting step.
Two words, one coinage.
Browse every portmanteau on the shelf — or cross over to the loanwords atlas.