A trademark is a special symbol, word, phrase, or design that identifies a specific company's products or services and distinguishes them from everyone else's. When you see the golden arches, you instantly think of McDonald's. When you see a swoosh, you know it's Nike. These are trademarks: they're like a company's signature that tells you exactly who made something.

Companies register their trademarks with the government to protect them legally. This means other businesses can't copy them or use similar marks that might confuse customers. If someone tried to open a restaurant with golden arches and call it “McBurger's,” McDonald's lawyers would stop them because the design is trademarked.

Some trademarks are so famous they've become part of everyday language, though companies work hard to prevent this. People might say “hand me a Kleenex” when they mean any tissue, or “I'll Google it” when they mean searching online. Companies worry when this happens because if a trademark becomes too generic, they can lose their exclusive rights to it.

The word can also describe something characteristic or distinctive about a person, like a comedian's trademark laugh or an artist's trademark style. When something becomes your trademark, it's the thing people associate most strongly with you.