What does zippo mean?
Zippo is an informal English noun for a cigarette lighter, especially the small metal pocket lighters known for a hinged lid and a wind-resistant chimney. The best-known examples have a lid that folds over the top, helping shield the flame from drafts, and a metal case designed to be carried in a pocket or attached to a key ring. In everyday use, people may call a particular lighter a zippo even when it is not the branded model, especially in British English, where the word has become broadly synonymous with lighter. In American English, it remains more closely associated with the characteristic Zippo design. The word is usually lowercase when used generically, though capitalization is appropriate when referring to the specific brand or product. Zippo is therefore both a practical vocabulary word for a familiar object and an example of how a brand name can enter general speech.
nounA cigarette lighter, especially a small metal pocket lighter with a hinged lid and a wind-resistant chimney.
- A cigarette lighter, especially a small metal pocket lighter with a hinged lid and a wind-resistant chimney.
"He flicked open his zippo and lit a cigarette."
"He flicked open his zippo and lit a cigarette."
"She kept a zippo in her jacket pocket during the concert."
The plural is regular: zippo becomes zippos.
"He kept two zippos in his jacket pockets."
The hinged lid that allows a zippo flame to resist the wind has made the word recognizable long after the object became everyday equipment.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of zippo
Zippo was coined in the United States in the early 1930s as the name of a lighter distinguished by a hinged lid and a wind-resistant design. The name was originally used for the branded product, but it later became a common noun for that type of lighter and, in some varieties of English, for a cigarette lighter generally. Because it is a modern coined name rather than an inherited English word, it has no established etymological cognates.
How zippo is actually used
Informal and often lowercase when used generically. In British English, it can refer to a cigarette lighter generally; in American English, it more often retains an association with the distinctive hinged-lid design. The word is also widely used as a brand name.