Remember, you don't need to describe your word completely, you just need to distinguish it from the other words. --Less is more--

There are multiple ways of developing associations with the assigned word, including but not limited to rhyming, storytelling, and synonyms.

Many people feel that just using the first letter of a word, or picking the color of the shape as a descriptor is against the spirit of the game. This will be up to the players in a particular game.

You don't have to just describe the word, you can also use the shape and colour above.