Rapper Cardi B’s application to trademark her catchphrase “okurrr” has been turned down by the US Patent and Trademark Office, which said the term was already widely used.

Cardi had hoped to use the distinctive trilling exclamation on a range of merchandise. The office stated, however, that it was a “commonplace term … used in the drag community and by celebrities as an alternate way of saying ‘OK’ or ‘something that is said to affirm when someone is being put in their place.”

Cardi herself had described the phrase as being like saying OK, “but OK is played out”. Other celebrities who are fond of using the phrase include Khloé Kardashian and RuPaul. Both examples were cited by the Patent and Trademark Office.

The rapper has had enormous success since her breakthrough in 2017, earning a US No 1 and a Grammy for her album Invasion of Privacy. She has returned to the US charts this week with her Lil Nas X collaboration Rodeo, and is set to headline the Wireless festival in London this Friday.

But she is also facing a possible jail term after she was accused of assault after a brawl in a New York strip club in 2018. She has pleaded not guilty, and faces a trial in September. If convicted, she could be sentenced to up to four years in jail.