blend

Meanings

Noun

• A mixture of two or more things.
• A word formed by combining two other words; a grammatical contamination, portmanteau word.

Verb

• To mingle; to mix; to unite intimately; to pass or shade insensibly into each other.
• To be mingled or mixed.
• To pollute by mixture or association; to spoil or corrupt; to blot; to stain.

Related

Similar words

• (mixture): combination, mix, mixture
• (in linguistics): frankenword, portmanteau, portmanteau word

Origin

• From Middle English blenden, either from Old English blandan, blondan, ġeblandan, ġeblendan or from Old Norse blanda ("to blend, mix") (which was originally a strong verb with the present-tense stem blend; compare blendingr), whence also Danish blande, or from a blend of the Old English and Old Norse terms; both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *blandaną. Compare Middle Dutch blanden ("to mix"), Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽, Old Church Slavonic блєсти ("to go astray").