The original meaning of the word X was a suitcase (X was formed from the French words for "carry" and "cloak"). The usage of X in the current sense first appeared in Lewis Carroll's 1871 book, Through the Looking Glass, in which Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky (a poem in the book).
Charles Dickens used X to name many of his characters, most notably "Scrooge".
Also, "Tanzania" is an example of X.
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5 comments:
Portmanteau... Knew it, but had to confirm using Wikipedia...
Portmanteau (words formed by +ing 2 different words)
Portmanteau
portmanteau? Tanzania= Tanganyka + Zanzibar!
The answer is indeed Portmanteau. It is itself a combination of the French words "porter" and "manteau", and it is currently used to describe a linguistic blend of two or more words.
As an aside, Scrooge was a portmanteau of the words "screw" and "gouge" and Tanzania (as Rahul correctly guessed) is formed using "Tangayika" and "Zanzibar".
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