Nabisco

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A trademarked name belonging to a large American food company known for crackers, cookies and snack biscuits
2. The brand name of a major United States manufacturer of crackers, cookies and other packaged baked snacks
3. A proprietary brand title used by a well-known American producer of biscuits, crackers and sweet baked goods

Etymology: Nabisco is a shortened form of the National Biscuit Company, the name under which a group of American bakeries merged into one firm. The company's full name was a mouthful for everyday use, so the clipped form became the name people actually used, and it eventually became the official one. The word is a blend-style abbreviation built from the first syllables of the original name, "Na" from "National" and "bisco" from "Biscuit," with the ending "-co" from "Company." That makes it a brand coinage rather than a word with a long history in the language, and its meaning is simply the company it names.