Carving archetype · phonetic-invention
Pure CVCV from preferred phonemes
No etymology, no meaning, just sound. Kodak (George Eastman: "I like the letter K"). Xerox (X-bookended). Häagen-Dazs (every phoneme chosen for impression). Sonos. The hardest archetype to validate because there's nothing for the listener to latch onto — but the rare ones become canonical.
Exemplar brands: Kodak · Xerox · Sonos · Häagen-Dazs · Aiwa · Yamaha
Source: David Placek, Lexicon Branding (Lenny's Pod 2025) — direct case study
Latin/Greek root + classical suffix
Vowel mutationi→y, drop a vowel, double a vowel
TruncationChop a longer word at a syllable boundary
BlendingFuse halves of two words
Compound-evocativeTwo real words, third meaning emerges
Foreign borrowingReal word from another language
Phonetic inventionPure CVCV from preferred phonemes
MisapplicationCommon English word in unrelated context