What is a frunk?

It is a front trunk on a car, as shown above on a Volkswagen Beetle. That old idea has a relatively new name - a portmanteau word. On September 16, 2019 I blogged about The joy of portmanteau words. At Fritinancy on April 2, 2018 Nancy Friedman discussed the Word of the week: Frunk. She noted that the British version (based instead on boot) is called a froot. Nancy also linked to an article at Jalopnik on July 31, 2017 by Jason Torchinsky titled The Tesla Model 3 Frunk Is A Triumph of Marketing. The triumph was the frunk on that Tesla is designed to hold an airline carry-on bag.

That Jalopnik article showed a photo of an opened Volkswagen trunk, which holds the spare tire just behind the bumper. Another Jalopnik article on October 22, 2018 by Jason Torchinsky pointed out how The spare tire windshield washer system in old Volkswagens is both ridiculous and clever. Instead of the usual electric pump they used compressed air to spray washer fluid.

A side and top view of a Volkswagen were cropped and colorized from an image at Wikimedia Commons.