A telethon is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other cause.

In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed, usually intentionally, by combining the sounds and meanings of two or more words. English examples include smog, coined by blending smoke and fog, as well as motel, from motor (motorist) and hotel. The component word fragments within blends are called splinters.