Kleenex vs tissue

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Grammarist

A tissue can be a piece of a living plant or animal, thin paper which provides filler to gift bags, and thin, absorbent paper one can use to blow one’s nose. The adjective form is tissuey and it comes from the Latin word for weaving.

Kleenex is the name of a brand of tissues that one can use to blow one’s nose. It should always be capitalized since it is a proper noun as the name of a company. The plural is formed by adding an es at the end.

While usage would suggest that this term be fully absorbed into the language and lost the capitalization, the name is trademarked and official sources must keep the uppercase K.

Examples

To study tissue samples, doctors and researchers use stains or dyes that stick to the particular structure or molecule they are looking for. [The Hindu]

Here’s his reply, but you may want to grab a tissue first, reports the Irish Mirror. [Mirror]

The wedding dresses that Humberto Spíndola fashioned from treated tissue paper are both fragile and stunning, giving a tactile dimension to the anguish seen on the canvas, which was painted after Kahlo divorced Rivera (they later remarried). [New York Post]

The next winner is Dani, whose dish was hot and rich, just like her, and also, apparently, “tissuey”. Tissuey. Honestly, that’s what they said. [Sydney Morning Herald]

No guests have been announced, but miss it at your peril and don’t forget the Kleenex. [Los Angeles Times]

Typically, nosebleeds last from a few seconds to more than 10 minutes, requiring a few Kleenexes to clean the bloody mess. [Medical Daily]

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