A brand name for soft tissue paper used for blowing your nose or wiping things, now commonly used as a general word for any facial tissue.
Created in 1924 by the Kimberly-Clark company, combining 'clean' with 'tissue.' The brand became so popular and widely used that people started calling all facial tissues 'Kleenex,' making it a classic example of a 'genericized trademark.'
Kleenex is a perfect example of how successful a product can become—the brand name is so famous that most people don't even know the company that makes it! Like how people say 'Band-Aid' for any adhesive bandage, 'Kleenex' became synonymous with tissues.
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