Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <vocabulary><verbing><neologisms>
Title: How does a word become an English word? Is there a word for that?
Question: How to term those words which are not by default English but are added over time?  Consider for example  Google . Is it an English word now? Or is it just a usage?

Answers:
sents: text: Use of the word “google” to mean “perform an Internet-based search (for)” is an example of genericization .
text: Wikipedia has a list of terms that have entered the language this way .
text: Some may surprise you.
text: Wikipedia also has a helpful page on the topic , which includes commentary on the phenomenon itself.
text: If you're looking for a more general term that covers words entering the language that are not necessarily trademarks, I recommend neologism .
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/2274/Tyler James Young
score: 9
sents: text: "How to term those words which are not by default English but added by time?"
text: That seems to me difficult to answer since all English words were not by default, but added in time.
text: You may consider, depending on context, terms such as neologism, loanword or calque.
text: As for Google, this is a type of trademark name that became a common word.
text: Other such examples are: cornflake (from Cornflakes@), tabloid, zipper, aspirin, escalator, jacuzzi, ping-pong, and one of the most-known, xerox.
text: [1]
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/14/Theta30
score: 4
sents: text: As per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, google is a transitive verb.
text: It is a word rather than just a usage.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/2495/Sweet72
score: 1
sents: text: Whilst a lot of the other answers to this question seem to be focusing on whether google has entered the dictionary, to me that sounds like a question for ELU.
text: My (ELL) take on it
text: is that it is a word - regardless of whether a dictionary believes it to be so - meaning to "search the web (esp.
text: using the Google web-search product)" because native speakers use it for that purpose .
text: Whether or not it is in a dictionary is somewhat besides the point.
text: It is well understood, routinely used and widely accepted word in everyday ordinary English.
text: It is certainly very informal, so I'd avoid using it in essays and graded assignments, or in formal letters and emails.
text: And I'd avoid using it in books and marketing material too, since Google is a trademarked term.
text: But yes, for all intents and purposes, google is a perfectly valid word, used and understood by native English speakers: Let me just google that for you.
text: I'm not sure.
text: I'll google it.
text: Of course I know that zebras aren't just stripy horses!
text: I googled "zebras" earlier, and it said they were entirely different species!
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/307/Matt
score: 1
sents: text: "Verbing" is what happens when a noun or adjective starts to be used as a verb. "Genericizing" or "genericization" is what happens when a trademark (such as "Google") starts to be used as an ordinary word (such as "googling").
text: Usually the trademark is capitalized, and usually the genericized word is not capitalized.
text: Also, most trademarks do not take prefixes or suffixes (other than using a plural suffix to talk about more than one instance of the trademarked item), but genericized words do.
text: "Coinage" or "coining" is what happens when someone makes up a new word (or phrase) and starts using it.
text: The new word or phrase is a "neologism".
text: "Borrowing" is what happens when a foreign language word becomes an English language word.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/9100/Jasper
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
"Borrowing" is what happens when a foreign language word becomes an English language word. "Verbing" is what happens when a noun or adjective starts to be used as a verb.  "Genericizing" is what happens when a trademark (such as "Google") starts to be used as an ordinary word (such as "googling").  "Coining" is what happens when someone makes up a new word. "Neologism" is a more general term that covers words entering the language.
Verbing and borrowing are possible, also genericization, coinage, neologism, loanword or calque are options.