Why not create the word you need?

A quick look through a number of dictionaries and you'll discover that Trendspotter is not actually an official word – but it suits WordSpin's purpose perfectly. English continually adopts new words and the language is perpetually evolving. So even if the word you need doesn't exist, it should be possible to invent it.

Inventing words to serve your purpose
iPods use earbuds and cells send texts. You can create a word for anything, but it still has to sound appropriate to be successful. The zipper underwent many incarnations and name changes before finding its way onto nearly every jacket and bag produced. It was first patent registered as an Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure, but it didn't catch on and it's not hard to see why. It only became popular after a revamped product was launched in an advertising campaign in the 1930s under the current name zipper.

Compound words are also useful. The first webcam was developed at Cambridge University in 1991. The name, a mix of web and camera, is perfect to describe what the invention does. Other –cams include nestcams (used by natural history film-makers to watch nesting birds) and streetcams.

Company names synonymous with their products
Company names often develop into commonly used words in the English language, giving that company a clear branding advantage over their rivals. These companies will forever be associated with any similar products and their name is usually synonymous with quality.

Take Hoover. Invented in 1907, the very first Hoover was the brainchild of Murray Spangler, a janitor in an Ohio department store. Spangler gave his invention to his friend Susan Hoover to try. She was so enamoured by its sucking power, she persuaded her husband to buy the patent. The word is now used to mean any vacuum cleaner.

Another more modern example is Google. Although just the name of a search engine, it has become so widely used as a verb – "Just Google Hoover and you'll find the company website" – that even if you prefer to use Lycos, you'd never say "I'll Lycos it".

The origins of trendspotter
Trendspotter is a compound word that's not made it into any dictionary, but can sometimes be found in the language.

Trend has a long and winding history. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it was originally a verb, originating from the Middle English word trenden, meaning to roll about, turn, revolve. So when talking about the direction of a river, the good people of Middle England would say: "It trends to the west." The word did not become a noun until 1777, and even then it still referred largely to geographical features. In 1884, it was first recorded as meaning a general tendency, which is largely what we take it to mean now.

Spot began life in the 11th century meaning a moral tarnish, probably from the Old English word splott meaning a piece of land. No one seens entirely sure when it developed into a verb, nor when spotter came into the language.

Still, the combination of these two words suggests someone au fait with current styles.