There are two words in the English language that denote a woman who actively balances being a mother and an entrepreneur. One of those words is momtrepreneur. The other is mompreneur. The time has come to ask ourselves: which is the better portmanteau?

Points in favour of momtrepreneur and against mompreneur.

Both root words (mom and entrepreneur) are plainly visible in momtrepreneur. It may take a split-second more detective work to recognise entrepreneur from mompreneur. As word-blends, momtrepreneur wins on the front of clarity.

In momtrepreneur, prosody of both root words are preserved, because mom replaces the stressed syllable en of entrepreneur. This is not the case with mompreneur. There, mom replaces entre, a word-chunk of different (and incompatible) rhythm, and leaves the portmanteau mompreneur with a cadence which feels distinctly off. In short, momtrepreneur scans better.

Points in favour of mompreneur and against momtrepreneur.

Mompreneur’s mpr is a more common English consonant cluster than momtrepreneur’s mtr. Consider natural mpr words like empress, improve, comprise, and lamprey, whereas the mtr words which come to mind are artificial mashups like Amtrak and chemtrail. This has a sound phonological basis: m and p share a common point of articulation (labial), which differs from that of n and t (alveolar).

To me, mom replacing en in momtrepreneur obliquely suggests that the vowel in mom be nasalised, the better to preserve the inherent Frenchiness. This sparks a needless half-second of internal debate when I come across momtrepreneur, which is distracting. This subtle pronunciation ambiguity does not happen to me for mompreneur.

In my considered judgment, momtrepreneur is the better, more felicitous portmanteau, both in text and in speech. I place a high premium not only on the rhythm and scansion of my prose but also on its clarity, and momtrepreneur outperforms mompreneur on both courts.

Both are well attested in the literature, and I consider mompreneur a worthy second. At least they’re not momneur, momeur, motrepreneur, mopreneur, or the like.