Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Late 20th century ·1991
Webcam
web camera
- Meaning
- A camera streaming video over the internet.
- Source words
- web + camera
- Coined by
- Quentin Stafford-Fraser (concept)
- Year
- 1991
Background
The Trojan Room coffee pot camera at Cambridge (1991) was arguably the first webcam; the *word* stabilised around 1994 with public internet growth. Compound rather than pure portmanteau, but listed here for the coinage era.
Late 20th century
Marketing, media, and the early internet. Infomercial, emoticon, workaholic — the coinages name phenomena of mass media and white-collar life. Several predate the decades they're associated with.
Two words, one coinage.
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