When Brands Become Verbs: From Google to Zoom

In everyday conversation, we no longer just search online. We “Google it”. We don’t arrange video calls. We “Zoom”. We don’t edit photos. We “Photoshop” them. These brand names have transcended their corporate origins to become verbs in their own right, a phenomenon that represents both the pinnacle of brand recognition and, paradoxically, a potential legal headache.

The Power of Brands That Became Verbs

When brands that became verbs achieve this linguistic status, they’ve reached a level of cultural dominance that money can’t buy. It’s the ultimate marketing achievement: your company name becomes the word people use to describe an entire action or category.

Google: The Ultimate Example

Google has become so synonymous with internet searching that the brand name is now used universally as a verb. The Oxford English Dictionary officially added “google” as a verb in June 2006, less than a decade after the company’s founding in 1998.

Today, people across the globe say “Google it” regardless of which search engine they actually use. The verb has spread across languages, with variations appearing in Spanish (guglear), German (googeln), and many others. This widespread adoption demonstrates how completely Google dominated the search market. By becoming the default term for online searching, Google achieved what marketers dream of: total brand ubiquity.

The American Dialect Society recognised Google’s cultural impact early on, voting “google” as the most useful word of 2002. This came just four years after the company’s launch, showing how quickly the brand had embedded itself in everyday language.

Photoshop: Editing Reality

Adobe Photoshop, launched in 1990, has similarly become shorthand for any kind of digital image manipulation. When someone says a celebrity photo looks “Photoshopped”, they’re not necessarily claiming Adobe’s software was used. They’re simply saying the image has been digitally altered.

The verb “photoshop” entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006, recognising its widespread use in popular culture. The term has become so common that it’s used to describe everything from professional retouching to amateur photo editing, regardless of the actual software involved.

Uber: A New Way to Travel

Uber, founded in 2009, revolutionised urban transportation and quickly gave the English language a new verb. “I’ll Uber there” or “Let me Uber home” are now common phrases in cities worldwide. The term has become generic for ride-hailing services, even when people use competing apps like Lyft or Bolt.

This linguistic adoption happened remarkably quickly compared to older brands. Within just a few years of launch, Uber had become not just a company name but a way to describe an action. The speed of this transformation reflects both the company’s rapid growth and the immediate need for vocabulary to describe this new type of service.

Zoom: The Pandemic Verb

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated Zoom’s transformation from brand name to verb. As lockdowns forced people online, “Let’s Zoom” became the standard way to propose a video call, regardless of the platform actually used. People Zoomed with family, Zoomed for work meetings, and even Zoomed for social gatherings.

Zoom’s daily meeting participants skyrocketed from 10 million in December 2019 to over 300 million by April 2020. This explosive growth during a critical moment in history cemented the brand’s place in everyday language. The sheer scale of adoption, a 2,900% increase in just a few months, meant that millions of people worldwide were using “Zoom” as both a noun and a verb multiple times per day.

Other Notable Brand Verbs

Several other brands that became verbs have achieved similar linguistic status:

Skype was once the dominant term for video calling, with “Skype me” being common before Zoom’s rise. Though its cultural dominance has waned, the verb remains in use, particularly amongst those who adopted it during its peak in the 2000s and early 2010s.

Tweet, derived from Twitter (now X), became the standard term for posting on that platform. Even after Twitter’s rebrand, people continue to use “tweet” to describe short social media posts. The American Dialect Society named “tweet” as its Word of the Year in 2009, recognising its rapid adoption into mainstream vocabulary.

AirDrop, Apple’s file-sharing feature, has become a verb particularly amongst iPhone users. “Can you AirDrop that to me?” is now common parlance in offices and schools worldwide.

Xerox was perhaps the original modern brand verb. The photocopier company’s name became synonymous with photocopying itself, with people saying “Xerox this document” throughout the 1970s and 1980s, regardless of the machine’s actual brand.

The Double-Edged Sword

Whilst becoming a verb represents incredible brand success, it carries real risks. When a brand name becomes too generic, companies can lose their trademark protection. This process, called genericisation, has happened to brands like aspirin, escalator, and thermos, which were once protected trademarks but lost that status because they became generic terms.

Companies like Google actively fight against this genericisation by sending out cease and desist letters and running campaigns to remind people that “Google” is a trademarked brand name. The challenge is maintaining legal protection whilst simultaneously benefiting from the cultural dominance that verb status represents.

What Makes a Brand Become a Verb?

Several factors contribute to brands that became verbs achieving this status. First, the company must achieve market dominance in its category. Second, the product or service must represent something new or significantly better than alternatives, creating a need for fresh vocabulary. Third, the brand name must be short, memorable, and easy to use as a verb.

Timing matters too. Brands that introduce entirely new categories of products or services are more likely to become verbs because no existing vocabulary adequately describes what they do. Google didn’t just build a search engine. It became the search engine at the precise moment when internet searching was becoming essential to daily life.

The Cultural Impact

When brands become verbs, they’ve achieved something beyond commercial success. They’ve embedded themselves into the fabric of how we communicate. These words represent cultural moments and technological shifts. “Google it” marks the information age. “Uber there” reflects the gig economy and app-based services. “Zoom” will forever be associated with the pandemic era.

For companies, this linguistic immortality represents the ultimate brand achievement. Long after advertising campaigns are forgotten, these verbs remain, passed down through generations and across borders. They become part of how we describe the world itself.

The Future of Brand Verbs

The phenomenon of brands that became verbs shows no signs of slowing. As new technologies emerge and companies innovate, more brand names will likely make the leap from noun to verb. The question isn’t whether it will happen, but which brand will be next. Will it be a cryptocurrency platform, a social media app, or perhaps an artificial intelligence tool? Only time and cultural adoption will tell.

Sources

1. Oxford English Dictionary – “Google, v.²” (June 2006) – Official dictionary entry documenting “google” as a verb
   
2. American Dialect Society – “2002 Words of the Year” (January 2003) – Recognition of “google” as most useful word of 2002
   
3. Statista – “Zoom Video Communications daily meeting participants worldwide from 2019 to 2020” (March 2022) – Statistics on Zoom’s growth during COVID-19 pandemic

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