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9 Brands That Became Words

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If you ever googled a fact to finally put an end to an over-extended discussion, if you xeroxed a document to produce an exact duplicate, or if you ever rushed to cover a fresh wound with a band-aid; welcome to the intriguing world of generic trademarks. These are brand names that are ingrained in our collective lexicon to such an extent that they've become generic words, sometimes giving rise to brand-new verbs. They've become synonymous with the product or service that they offer. We'll list only a few examples; can you think of more?

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This one is so ubiquitous that we just had to include it on our list. Google is not only the most visited site in the world, but it's also the most widely used search engine. For over a decade, it has been the default search engine on multiple platforms and devices, including Apple's iMac, iPad, and iPhone.

The act of searching the internet through Google has become so intertwined with our daily lives that the brand is now generically used as a verb for doing just that. If you don't believe me, google it!

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We get it: Hoop-and-loop fastener is just a mouthful. As you may know, Velcro is actually the name of a privately owned British company founded by the Swiss inventor George de Mestral, who was the first person to design and commercially sell… well, hoop-and-loop fasteners. His product proved to be so popular that, luckily, the name Velcro just stuck.

De Mestral chose the name Velcro because it's a portmanteau of the French words velours, "velvet", and crochet, "hook." It is now used as a generic word for all similar products.

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This one has a bit of a complicated history, as Xerox –the company– is firmly opposed to their trademark being used as a generic term. In their own words, "You can not xerox a document, but you can copy it on a Xerox Brand copying machine."

Despite their efforts, there is no doubt that the word has entered the common lexicon, and even the Oxford English Dictionary lists xerox, as a verb, as a synonym for "photocopying."

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The original name for a zipper is "clasp-locker," but we wouldn't blame you if you didn't know that. Even though the device had been around for a while, the name zipper dates back only to the 1920s. The B.F. Goodrich Company used zippers as a closing mechanism for its line of rubber overshoes and trademarked the name. The rest, as they say, is history.

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The name Escalator, with a capital E, was first applied to a single prototype of a moving stairway shown at the 1900s Paris Exposition and trademarked by the Otis Elevator Company.

As we now know, the technology was widely adopted and, soon, escalators took the world by storm. However, the Otis Elevator Company did little to protect its trademark and, by the 1950s, a court order declared the world to be of public domain.

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While the word podcast wasn't born as a brand, there's one cleverly hidden in it. If you were around in the 2000s, you'll probably have fond memories of Apple's iPod. The now-discontinued portable media player was as ubiquitous then as the smartphones that displaced it are now. For a while, it almost achieved generic trademark status by itself.

As you may have noticed, the word podcast was fashioned as a portmanteau of the words "iPod" and "broadcast," despite the fact that they can be accessed through a myriad of different devices. Through this quirk of etymology, the legacy of the iPod carries on.

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The unassuming flying disc was branded and rebranded quite a few times. It went by names such as Whirlo-Way, Flying-Saucer, and Pluto Platter. However, the one that finally hit the mark was Frisbee.

Allegedly, the founders of Wham-O –the company that owns the Frisbee trademark– coined the name after learning that their toy was already being called that way by Yale college students. The word is a corruption of Frisbie, the name engraved on the tins of the Frisbie Pie Company.

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Like the frisbee, the yo-yo is one of those toys that seem to have been with humanity since time immemorial. There are depictions of children playing with yo-yo-like toys painted on ancient Greek vases.

The word yo-yo is of Philippine origin, and it means "come-come." Its trademark history begins with Pedro Flores, a Filipino immigrant to the United States who founded the Flores Yo-Yo Company. The trademark was eventually acquired by Donald Duncan, who you might know by the slogan "If it's not a Duncan, it's not a yo-yo." Due to its popular use, the word yo-yo has been declared generic in the US since the 1960s.

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The epitome of a generic trademark, you will not hear adhesive bandage said out loud in any household in the United States: the word for that is band-aid. The brand is incredibly popular even outside the US: Since World War II, Johnson & Johnson has estimated a sale of over a billion band-aids worldwide.

Despite its generic use, Johnson & Johnson continues to hold and defend its band-aid trademark, and the term can't be used commercially by any other company.