Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Early 20th century ·1904
Tangelo
tangerine pomelo
- Meaning
- A hybrid citrus fruit crossing a tangerine and a pomelo.
- Source words
- tangerine + pomelo
- Coined by
- Walter T. Swingle
- Year
- 1904
Background
Coined by Swingle, a USDA plant biologist, for the hybrid he bred at the agency's Eustis, Florida, station. A rare case of a breeder naming a new fruit with a portmanteau rather than a personal name.
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.