In English, blends are usually formed from the first half of one word and the second half of another. For example:
- smog : smoke + fog
- motel : motor + hotel
- edutainment : education + entertainment
In contrast, in Malay blends tend to be the first half of two words, or sometimes three. For example:
- cerpen ('short story') : cerita + pendek
- tadika ('kindergarten') : taman + didik + kanak
However, I just learned one that seems to follow the English pattern, not the usual Malay pattern, though maybe it only exists in Indonesia:
- tongsis ('selfie stick') : tongkat + narsis (lit. 'a narcisist stick')
I wonder if this use of the second part of 'narsis' is influenced by the fact that this word comes from English? Or maybe Indonesian word formation works differently from that of Malay.
