slogan

The word 'slogan' originates from the Scottish Gaelic term sluagh-ghairm, which literally meant "army shout" or "battle cry." This compound was formed from sluagh ("host, army") and gairm ("shout, cry"). Adopted into English in the early 16th century, it initially retained its martial sense, referring to a distinctive cry or phrase used by a Scottish clan to rally in battle. Over the following centuries, the meaning softened and generalized, shifting from a literal war cry to a distinctive motto of any group, and finally, by the late 19th century, to its modern commercial and political sense of a catchy advertising phrase.

The word is a simplex loanword from Scottish Gaelic. It does not contain separable, productive morphemes within modern English spelling.