Genericization

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /dʒəˌnɛɹɪsaɪˈzeɪʃən/

Definitions

1. The process by which a trademark or specific brand name becomes synonymous with the general category of products or services it represents occurs in this phenomenon
2. This phenomenon refers to how a brand name or trademark evolves into a general term for similar products in the market
3. The transformation of a specific brand or trademark into a common descriptor for an entire class of products or services is characterized by this concept

Etymology: Genericization is a plain formation: the noun "generic" plus the suffix "-ization," which turns an adjective into a noun for the process of making something so. The adjective "generic" comes from Latin "genus," meaning kind or class, through Middle French "générique" and entered English as a term for things belonging to a whole class rather than a particular one. The suffix chain runs back through Late Latin "-izare," borrowed into Middle English as "-isen" and eventually reshaped into "-ize," with the "-ation" ending from Latin "-ātiō" supplying the noun form. In trademark law and everyday speech, the word names the process by which a brand name slides into being a general term for the product itself. Escalator, aspirin and thermos are often cited as cases, though the process is the point, not any single example. The word's own history follows the same pattern: a classifying word for a whole kind, given a suffix that turns an action into a noun.

Synonyms: generalization