means A fastening system made of two strips—one covered in tiny hooks, the other in tiny loops—that grip when pressed together and rip apart with that satisfying tear.

from A blend of two French words: 'velours' (velvet) and 'crochet' (hook)—velvet-hook, basically. It was coined as a brand name by the Swiss engineer who, the story goes, came home from a hunting trip and got curious about the burrs clinging to his clothes and his dog's fur; under a microscope he saw the burrs' tiny hooks snagging loops, and reverse-engineered them. Velcro began as a trademark and slid, like Kleenex and Zipper before it, into everyday lowercase use—much to the company's lasting irritation.