Wi-Fi

In 1997, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) released standard 802.11, a protocol for wireless local area networking. The name was accurate and utterly unmarketable. The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (later renamed the Wi-Fi Alliance) needed something a human being would actually say.

They hired Interbrand, the same consulting firm that had named Prozac and CompaqQ. Interbrand proposed ten names. The alliance picked Wi-Fi. Phil Belanger, a founding member of the Wi-Fi Alliance, later confirmed in interviews that the name was chosen purely for its catchiness and its echo of 'hi-fi,' the abbreviation for 'high fidelity' that had been popular since the 1950s audio era.

The trouble started almost immediately. The alliance's own marketing team added a tagline — 'The Standard for Wireless Fidelity' — to make the name feel more technical. This backronym stuck. Belanger spent years trying to correct the record: Wi-Fi is not an abbreviation. It is a brand name. The 'Fi' does not stand for 'fidelity.' It does not stand for anything.

The word spread faster than the technology. By 2003, Wi-Fi had entered the Oxford English Dictionary. By 2010, airports and cafes worldwide advertised 'free Wi-Fi' as a selling point. A meaningless word coined by a branding firm became one of the most recognized terms of the 21st century. It is the rare case of a word born with no etymology at all.