Jell-O

Meanings

1. A brand of dessert made from gelatin.
2. Any brand of fruit flavored gelatin dessert mix.

Etymology

Trademarked by Pearle Bixby Wait and named by his wife, May Wait. Clipping of gelatin and jelly, both ultimately from Latin gelō (“to freeze, cause to congeal”), following a then relatively popular trend in the United States to add “O” to the end of products, which according to The Dictionary of Trade Names Origins started because the letter is pleasing to the eye. By surface analysis, jell (“jelly”) + -o.