Well, ‘slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy.’ ‘Lithe’ is the same as ‘active.’ You see it’s like a portmanteau⸺there are two meanings packed up into one word.
Source: wiktionary
Portmanteau word
Synonyms for "portmanteau word" (25 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (5)
Noun(1 words)
Strong matches (8)
Related words (12)
hybridismmacaronicmacaronicismneologismpolysemantportmanteauportmantologismpunsquinting constructiontelescope wordweasel word
Noun(1 words)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Sample sentences
4 total sentences available.
He found the blend "tomax" in "a collection of gratulatory verses presented by the President and Fellows of Harvard College 1 to the new King, George III," dated 1761. A note by the owner of the volume explains the word as a combination of tomahawk and axe: "It is a portmanteau word, which must have been as clear to the average reader in England of 1761 — as clear to George III himself - as brillig and slithy would have been to us, had not Humpty Dumpty kindly explained them."
Source: wiktionary
1. Portmanteau Words and Allomorphy - This paper is primarily concerned with the theoretical implications of what have been called portmanteau words (Hockett, 1947)
Source: wiktionary
One reason for the popularity of portmanteau words in naming language hybrids may be the fact that the names themselves embody a type of hybridity.
Source: wiktionary