Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Early 20th century ·1909
Motorcade
motor cavalcade
- Meaning
- A procession of motor vehicles, usually ceremonial.
- Source words
- motor + cavalcade
- Coined by
- Lyle Abbot
- Year
- 1909
Background
Coined in the *Arizona Republican* to describe a welcome parade in Phoenix. The pattern (-cade) later gave us "aquacade" (1937) and "motorcade" spread via Roosevelt-era press.
Early 20th century
Industrialisation generated new things that needed new names, fast. Motoring, electricity, telecommunications, and urban pollution all produced portmanteaus within a generation of their arrival.
Two words, one coinage.
Browse every portmanteau on the shelf — or cross over to the loanwords atlas.