Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Mid-century: TV and science ·1938
Liger
lion tiger
- Meaning
- The offspring of a male lion and a female tiger.
- Source words
- lion + tiger
- Coined by
- unknown (zoological usage)
- Year
- 1938
Background
The reciprocal cross (male tiger × female lion) is a *tigon* — an older coinage dating to the 1920s. Both are documented in zoo records decades before pop-culture usage.
Mid-century: TV and science
Two engines dominated: television (sitcom, televangelist) and post-war big science (pulsar, transistor). Many mid-century coinages came from scientific style sheets and industry journals.
Two words, one coinage.
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