D

A pair of words which share a common origin, but which have distinct shades of meaning. The English words vibrate and vibrant are both derived from the Latin word vibrare ‘to vibrate, to shake’, but vibrate means ‘to shake, to quiver’ and vibrant means ‘vigorous, energetic, radiant’.

Any harsh or disagreeable combination of sounds, the perception of which will vary from language to language. In English, Schlitz beer is an example of dissonance.

The likelihood that a given brand name will stand out in the course of normal speech. The discourse audibility of the name Yahoo!, for example, is extremely high. Compare Textual Visibility.

Any brand name created by adding a suffix denoting smallness, youthfulness, familiarity, or affection. In English, diminutives are usually formed with the suffixes ‘-y’, ‘-ies’, or ‘-kin’. Huggies diapers andWheaties breakfast cereal are examples of diminutives.

A word which literally describes the product or service being identified, often functioning as a category name and generally paired with a fanciful, arbitrary, or suggestive name to form a complete brand name. One example of this is Kleenex facial tissue, where Kleenex is a fanciful name and facial tissue is a descriptor. Compare Category Name.

A word’s intrinsic, literal senses, excluding its overtones and shades of meaning. While we listed various connotations of ‘travel’ above, the denotation (from Webster’s dictionary) is ‘to go from one place to another; to make a journey or journeys’. Compare Connotation.