Etymology

Oyster card

Today it means: A contactless smart card, introduced in 2003, used to pay for public transport in the Greater London area. Full definition →

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The story

A marketing coinage; influences are said to include the security and value of the oyster's shell and pearl, the oyster beds of London's Thames estuary, and the popular idiom the world is one's oyster.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.