Yes, an English word or a word in any other foreign language can be registered as a trademark; Industrial Property Law No. 6769 (SMK) draws no distinction by language when it lists the signs that can constitute a trademark. What matters is not the language but what the word means to the relevant consumer in Turkey: a widely understood English word that describes or praises the goods is assessed like its Turkish equivalent and may be refused. Foreign word trademark registration therefore starts with a check of meaning, not with the assumption that "a foreign word is bound to be distinctive".
Below you will find how meaning enters the assessment of descriptiveness, how marks in non-Latin scripts are handled, how translations create conflicts, what adding a Turkish suffix to a foreign word achieves, the pitfalls of pronunciation and searching, the advantages and risks of a foreign word when expanding abroad, and a risk table by type of word.
Can a Foreign Word Be Registered as a Trademark?
It can. Article 4 SMK lists words, including personal names, among the signs that can constitute a trademark, and it sets no condition as to the language of the word. A foreign word trademark is a mark consisting of a word that has a meaning in a language other than Turkish, or that is perceived as a word of that language.
Article 11 SMK, which governs the content of an application, likewise does not list a translation of a foreign word among the mandatory elements. The only language-specific requirement is that, if the mark image uses characters outside the Latin alphabet, their equivalent in the Latin alphabet must be provided (Article 11(1)(f)).
One distinction should be drawn at the outset: a made-up word that has no meaning in any language and merely "looks foreign" is not a foreign word mark but a coined (fanciful) mark. Coined marks are the strongest group in terms of distinctiveness; the check of meaning becomes important mainly when a real foreign word is used.
How Is Meaning Taken Into Account When Assessing Descriptiveness?
If the relevant consumer understands a foreign word, it is measured by the same yardstick as its Turkish equivalent. Article 5(1)(c) SMK bars the registration of signs consisting exclusively or mainly of indications of the kind, quality, intended purpose or value of the goods; Article 5(1)(b) covers signs devoid of distinctive character, and Article 5(1)(d) covers indications in common use in trade. None of these provisions requires the word to be Turkish. We map out the grounds for refusal in general in our article on why trademark applications are refused.
The assessment is made item by item for the goods and services. The same English word may be descriptive for one item on the list and arbitrary for another; in that case Article 16 SMK allows the application to be refused only for the goods and services concerned. Reading the list together with the meaning of the word when preparing a foreign word trademark registration reduces the risk of an unnecessary partial refusal from the start.
Widely understood English words
Words such as "fresh", "premium", "smart", "express", "gold" or "best", which are understood by large parts of the population in Turkey, are assessed like "taze", "birinci sınıf" or "akıllı" (their Turkish equivalents) if they indicate a characteristic of, or praise, the goods or services concerned. "FRESH" for fruit juice or "SMART" for phone accessories is not a distinctive mark on its own.
Industry jargon
In some fields, English terms have become part of everyday language. In software and digital services, words such as "cloud", "app", "online" or "digital" are indications in common use across the sector and are weak candidates for registration on their own in those fields. The same word may be considered suggestive or arbitrary in an unrelated field, for example furniture.
Languages little known in Turkey
A word in a language whose meaning the average consumer does not know may not be perceived as descriptive at first sight. That is not a safe shortcut, however: the assessment is made from the point of view of the relevant public, and in some sectors professional buyers know the terms of particular languages. Italian or French in gastronomy and Latin in medicine are typical examples. The outcome depends on the sector and on how well the word is known within it.
Marks Written in Non-Latin Scripts
Words written in Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Chinese or any other script can also be filed as trademarks; in that case, under Article 11(1)(f) SMK, the equivalent of the characters in the Latin alphabet (a transliteration) is provided in the application. A missing transliteration is a deficiency to be remedied at the formal examination stage. Under Article 15 SMK, such a deficiency does not affect the filing date, but if it is not remedied within the two-month period granted, the application is removed from processing.
In practice, watch two points:
- Two scripts, two signs: If you will use the mark in both Latin and non-Latin script, showing both versions in the same image creates a single composite sign. Because Article 11(2) SMK limits each application to one mark, protecting the two versions separately requires two applications.
- Meaning still matters: A change of script does not change the meaning. A descriptive word written in non-Latin characters remains descriptive for the relevant consumers who know that language.
A Foreign Translation of a Turkish Mark: Conceptual Similarity
A foreign-language translation of a registered Turkish mark may be regarded as conceptually similar if the relevant consumer readily makes the translation. To take a made-up example, if "MAVİ PUSULA" ("blue compass" in Turkish) is registered for leather bags, an application for "BLUE COMPASS" for the same goods is open to a likelihood-of-confusion challenge. We explain the general logic of conceptual similarity with examples in our article on likelihood of confusion.
Conflicts of this kind usually arise through an opposition by the owner of the earlier mark, under Article 6(1) SMK. The refusal examination that the Office carries out on its own initiative (Article 5(1)(ç)) is limited to identical signs and signs so similar that they cannot be distinguished. "The Office did not refuse it" does not mean there is no risk of opposition.
The same risk applies in the opposite direction: filing the Turkish equivalent of a mark registered in a foreign language raises a similar dispute if the translation is readily made. When you search, therefore, check not only the word you have chosen but also its Turkish equivalent and any readily apparent equivalents in other languages.
Does Adding a Turkish Suffix to a Foreign Word Help?
Adding a Turkish suffix to a descriptive foreign word usually does not solve the problem. In constructions such as "SMARTÇI" or "FRESHÇİM" (made-up examples), the meaning of the core word survives, and consumers perceive the word they know rather than the suffix. What the suffix does is grammatical; it adds no distinctiveness.
The same logic works in the direction of similarity. Adding a Turkish suffix to someone else's registered foreign-word mark does not remove the similarity, because it does not change the dominant element.
By contrast, combining parts of two languages to create a genuinely new word is a strong route. A word that joins a Turkish root with a foreign suffix, and has no ready-made meaning in either language, comes close to a coined mark. We cover methods for creating names in detail in our guide on how to choose a brand name.
Pronunciation and Searching: Marks Not Read the Way They Are Written
Foreign words are often not pronounced in Turkish the way they are written, and the similarity assessment also considers how consumers in Turkey will pronounce the word. A search based on the written form alone can therefore miss marks spelled the Turkish way that sound the same.
To take a made-up example, a business that chooses the name "NIGHTLY" may come across a similar mark recorded in the register as "NAYTLİ". The reverse also holds: your Turkish-spelled mark may sound the same as a mark spelled the foreign way. We have gathered the variations that need to be searched in a table in our guide to phonetic similarity in trademark searches.
Pronunciation also has a commercial side. If customers cannot spell your brand after hearing it, they cannot find you online either. When choosing a foreign word, ask whether it is spelled correctly when said over the phone; if not, plan to monitor the common misspellings as well.
Expanding Abroad: Is a Foreign Word an Advantage or a Risk?
A foreign word can make it easier to use one brand across several markets, but in the markets where the word's own language is spoken, the risks of descriptiveness and of meaning grow. A foreign word trademark accepted in Turkey may not be accepted as easily in a market where English is the native language.
In brief, the advantages and risks are:
- Advantage — shared pronunciation: A word with an internationally familiar letter and sound structure is read and remembered the same way in different markets.
- Risk — descriptiveness in the target language: A word regarded as suggestive in Turkey may be treated as a direct description of the goods in a country where its own language is spoken.
- Risk — negative meaning: The word may carry a vulgar, ridiculous or negative meaning in the language of the target market; only a check at native-speaker level will reveal it.
- Risk — earlier rights: A common foreign word may already be used as a trademark by many owners in the countries where that language is spoken.
The usual route for expanding abroad on the basis of a Turkish application is the Madrid System; how it works in general is explained in our article on international trademark registration and the Madrid Protocol. Under the 2026 schedule of TÜRKPATENT (Turkish Patent and Trademark Office), the standard item for forwarding an international application to WIPO is TRY 3,850 (02.01.19); there is a separate, lower item for international applications with Turkish wording (02.01.35, TRY 3,350). Confirm before filing which applications fall under that item. Current amounts should always be checked against the TÜRKPATENT fee schedule, because it is updated every year.
Running a preliminary screening of the registers in your target markets before finalizing the list of names lets you see the risk abroad at the cheapest stage. Resources such as WIPO's global brand database can be used for a first screening; for the final decision, however, each country's own register and the use of the mark in that country should also be examined.
When the direction is reversed, that is, when a foreign company brings its brand to Turkey, checking the Turkish pronunciation and the Turkish meaning is just as important; we cover that scenario in our guide to trademark registration in Turkey for foreign companies.
Registration Risk by Type of Word
The table below summarizes the typical level of risk for marks consisting of foreign words. The final assessment is made separately for each good and service in the application.
| Type of word | Example (made-up or generic) | Registration risk |
|---|---|---|
| Made-up word with no meaning in any language that looks foreign | "VELUMBRA" | Low — coined mark |
| Real foreign word unrelated to the goods or services | "LIGHTHOUSE" for furniture | Low to medium — arbitrary mark; earlier marks must be searched |
| Foreign word that indirectly evokes the goods | "DREAMWAY" for sleep products | Medium — the allusion must not turn into a direct description |
| Widely understood descriptive or laudatory English word | "FRESH" for fruit juice | High — assessed like its Turkish equivalent |
| Jargon of the relevant sector | "CLOUD" for software | High — an indication in common use in the sector |
| Descriptive word in a language little known in Turkey | A technical term known to professional buyers | Uncertain — depends on the relevant public and the sector |
| Translation of a registered Turkish mark | "BLUE COMPASS" against "MAVİ PUSULA" | High — conceptual similarity upon opposition |
| Descriptive foreign word + Turkish suffix | "SMARTÇI" | High — the suffix adds no distinctiveness |
For words that appear high-risk in the table, there are two ways out. The first is to add a distinctive core word or an original figurative element next to the descriptive word. The second, if the word was used intensively over a long period before filing, is to rely on acquired distinctiveness (Article 5(2) SMK); we explain the burden of proof and the types of evidence in our article on acquired distinctiveness through use. Foreign marks consisting of abbreviations and strings of letters are subject to a separate assessment: see our article on letter and number trademarks.
Checklist Before Filing With a Foreign Word
- Verify the meaning: Check the dictionary meaning of the word and how it is actually used in your sector; if it appears as a product description on industry websites, the risk is high.
- Search the equivalents: Also check the register for its Turkish translation and any readily apparent equivalents in other languages.
- Write down the Turkish pronunciation: Spell out how the word will be pronounced in Turkey and search with that spelling too.
- Check the target markets: Have the word's meaning in the languages of the countries you plan to enter confirmed, ideally by a native speaker.
- Strengthen it if necessary: If the word is close to descriptive, add a distinctive core or an original logo.
- Prepare the application: Prepare the transliteration if there are non-Latin characters, build the list of goods and services and move on to the stage of trademark registration in Turkey.
If your slogan is also in English, the same criteria apply; you will find the additional rules specific to slogans in our article on registering a slogan as a trademark.
Summary
Key points to remember:
- An English word or a word in any other foreign language can be registered as a trademark; the SMK draws no distinction by language.
- If the relevant consumer in Turkey understands the word, it is assessed like its Turkish equivalent; words such as "fresh", "premium" and "smart" are weak on their own.
- A transliteration is mandatory for non-Latin characters (Article 11(1)(f)); if the deficiency is not remedied within two months, the application is removed from processing.
- A translation of a registered Turkish mark can be refused upon opposition on grounds of conceptual similarity; adding a Turkish suffix does not remove similarity.
- If you plan to go abroad, check the word's meaning and descriptiveness in the target language before filing.
Shall we assess the registrability of your foreign-word brand?
Send us your candidate names and your field of business through our contact page. Our team, which works with trademark attorneys authorized before TÜRKPATENT, will assess each word's meaning, Turkish pronunciation, translation equivalents and similar entries in the register together; if you plan to go abroad, you will see the risks in your target markets in the same report.
