Commonym Edit Meaning

1.

A trademarked term used to identify all products of the same type, such as the word "Kleenex" used to describe any facial tissue, or "Vaseline" as a term for a competing petroleum jelly. Other commonyms include, Band-Aid, ChapStick, Popsicle, and Q-tip.

Some former trademarks have become generic terms after a long life as commonyms, such as aspirin (formerly trademarked by Bayer) and escalator (a former trademark of the Otis Elevator Company.)

If Apple doesn't protect it's trademark, iPod will become a commonym for an MP3 player.

See trademark, consumerism, q-tip, vaseline, band-aid, kleenex, popsicle, chapstick, ipod