Acronym

This article is about linguistic abbreviation. For the HTML element, seeACRONYM tag.For the political advocacy group, seeAcronym (organization).

Anacronymis a type ofabbreviationconsisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initialletterof eachwordinall capswith nopunctuation.

The name ofNASAis an acronym that expands to National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

For some, aninitialismoralphabetism,connotesthis general meaning, and anacronymis asubsetwith a narrower definition: an initialism pronounced as a word rather than as a sequence of letters. In this sense,NASA/ˈnæsə/is an acronym butUSA/juːɛsˈeɪ/is not.

The broader sense ofacronym,ignoring pronunciation, is its original meaningand in common use.Dictionary and style-guide editors dispute whether the termacronymcan be legitimately applied to abbreviations which are not pronounced as words, and they do not agree on acronymspacing,casing,andpunctuation.

The phrase that the acronym stands for is called itsexpansion.Themeaningof an acronym includes both its expansion and the meaning of its expansion.

Etymology

The wordacronymis formed from theGreek rootsakro-,meaning 'height, summit, or tip', and-nym,'name'.Thisneoclassical compoundappears to have originated inGerman,with attestations for the German formAkronymappearing as early as 1921.Citations in English date to a 1940 translation of a novel by the German writerLion Feuchtwanger.

Pronounceability controversy

It is an unsettled question in Englishlexicographyandstyle guideswhether it is legitimate to use the wordacronymto describe forms that use initials but are not pronounced as a word. While there is plenty of evidence thatacronymis used widely in this way, some sources do not acknowledge this usage, reserving the termacronymonly for forms pronounced as a word, and usinginitialismorabbreviationfor those that are not. Some sources acknowledge the usage, but vary in whether they criticize or forbid it, allow it without comment, or explicitly advocate it.

Some mainstream English dictionaries from across the English-speaking world affirm asenseofacronymwhich does not require being pronounced as a word. American English dictionaries such asMerriam-Webster,Dictionary.com'sRandom House Webster's Unabridged Dictionaryand theAmerican Heritage Dictionaryas well as the BritishOxford English Dictionaryand the AustralianMacquarie Dictionaryall include a sense in their entries foracronymequating it withinitialism,althoughThe American Heritage Dictionarycriticizes it with the label "usage problem".However, many English language dictionaries, such as theCollins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary,Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary,Macmillan Dictionary,Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English,New Oxford American Dictionary,Webster's New World Dictionary,andLexicofrom Oxford University Pressdo not acknowledge such a sense.

Most of the dictionary entries and style guide recommendations regarding the termacronymthrough the twentieth century did not explicitly acknowledge or support the expansive sense. TheMerriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usagefrom 1994 is one of the earliest publications to advocate for the expansive sense,and all the major dictionary editions that include a sense ofacronymequating it withinitialismwere first published in the twenty-first century. The trend among dictionary editors appears to be towards including a sense definingacronymasinitialism:theMerriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionaryadded such a sense in its 11th edition in 2003,and both theOxford English DictionaryandThe American Heritage Dictionaryadded such senses in their 2011 editions. The 1989 edition of theOxford English Dictionaryonly included the exclusive sense foracronymand its earliest citation was from 1943.In early December 2010,Duke Universityresearcher Stephen Goranson published a citation foracronymto theAmerican Dialect Societye-mail discussion list which refers toPGNbeing pronounced "pee-gee-enn",antedatingEnglish language usage of the word to 1940.LinguistBen Zimmerthen mentioned this citation in his December 16, 2010 "On Language"column about acronyms inThe New York Times Magazine.By 2011, the publication of the 3rd edition of theOxford English Dictionaryadded the expansive sense to its entry foracronymand included the 1940 citation.As theOxford English Dictionarystructures the senses in order of chronological development,it now gives the "initialism" sense first.

English language usage and style guides which have entries foracronymgenerally criticize the usage that refers to forms that are not pronounceable words.Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usagesays thatacronym"denotes abbreviations formed from initial letters of other words and pronounced as a single word, such asNATO(as distinct fromB-B-C) "but adds later" In everyday use,acronymis often applied to abbreviations that are technically initialisms, since they are pronounced as separate letters. "The Chicago Manual of Styleacknowledges the complexity ( "Furthermore, an acronym and initialism are occasionally combined (JPEG), and the line between initialism and acronym is not always clear" ) but still defines the terms as mutually exclusive.Other guides outright deny any legitimacy to the usage:Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Wordssays "Abbreviations that are not pronounced as words (IBM, ABC, NFL) are not acronyms; they are just abbreviations."Garner's Modern American Usagesays "An acronym is made from the first letters or parts of a compound term. It's read or spoken as a single word, not letter by letter."The New York Times Manual of Style and Usagesays "Unless pronounced as a word, an abbreviation is not an acronym."

In contrast, some style guides do support it, whether explicitly or implicitly. The 1994 edition ofMerriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usagedefends the usage on the basis of a claim that dictionaries do not make a distinction.TheBuzzFeedstyle guide describes CBS and PBS as "acronyms ending in S".

Examples

Main article:Lists of acronyms

• Pronounced as letters
  • BBC:"British Broadcasting Corporation"
  • DVD:"Digital Video Disc"
  • OEM:"original equipment manufacturer"
  • USA:"United States of America"
  • VHF:"very high frequency"
• Pronounced as word; initials only
  • NATO:"North Atlantic Treaty Organization"
  • Scuba:"self-contained underwater breathing apparatus"
  • Laser:"light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation"
  • GIF:"graphics interchange format"
• Pronounced as word; initials and non-initials
  • Amphetamine:"alpha-methyl-phenethylamine"
  • Gestapo:GermanGeheime Staatspolizei('secret state police')
  • Radar:"radio detection and ranging"
  • Lidar:"light detection and ranging"
• Pronounced as combination of word and letters
  • CD-ROM:(cee-dee-/rɒm/) "compact disc read-only memory"
  • IUPAC:(i-u-/pæk/ori-u-pee-a-cee) "International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry"
  • JPEG:(jay-/pɛɡ/orjay-pee-e-gee) "Joint Photographic Experts Group"
  • SFMOMA:(ess-ef-/ˈmoʊmə/oress-ef-em-o-em-a) "San Francisco Museum of Modern Art"
• Pronounced as shortcut phrase of letters
  • AAA:
    • (Triple-A) "American Automobile Association";"abdominal aortic aneurysm";"anti-aircraft artillery";"Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración"
    • (Three-As) "Amateur Athletic Association"
  • IEEE:(I triple-E) "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers"
  • NAACP:(N double-A C PorN A A C P) "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People"
  • NCAA:(N C double-AorN C two-AorN C A A) "National Collegiate Athletic Association"
• Shortcut incorporated into spelling
  • 3M:(three M) originally "Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company"
  • W3C:(W-three C) "World Wide Web Consortium"
  • A2DP:(A-two D P) "Advanced Audio Distribution Profile"
  • I18N:("18" stands in for the word's middle eighteen letters, "nternationalizatio") "Internationalization"
  • C4ISTAR:(C-four Istar) "Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance"
• Mnemonic (memory-aid)
  • KISS"Keep it simple, stupid", a design principle preferring simplicity
  • SMART"Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-related", A principle of setting of goals and objectives
  • FAST"Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulties, Time", helps detect and enhance responsiveness to the needs of a person having astroke
  • DRY"Don't repeat yourself", A principle of software development aimed at reducing repetition of software patterns
• Multi-layered
  • AIM:"AOL Instant Messenger", in which "AOL"originally stood for" America Online "
  • AFTA:"ASEAN Free Trade Area", whereASEANstands for "Association of Southeast Asian Nations"
  • GIMP:"GNUimage manipulation program "
• Recursive
  • GNU:"GNU's not Unix!"
  • Wine:"Wine is not an emulator" (originally, "Windows emulator" )
  • HURD:"HIRD of Unix-replacing daemons", where "HIRD" stands for "HURD of interfaces representing depth"
• Gramograms,pseudo-acronyms
  • CQ:cee-cuefor "seek you", a code used by radio operators
  • IOU:i-o-ufor "I owe you"
  • K9:kay-ninefor "canine", used to designate police units using dogs
• RAS syndromephrases
  • ATMmachine: "automated teller machine machine"
  • HIVvirus: "human immunodeficiency virus virus"
  • LCDdisplay: "liquid-crystal display display"
  • PINnumber: "personal identification number number"

Historical and current use

Acronymy, likeretronymy,is a linguistic process that has existed throughout history but for which there was little to nonaming,conscious attention, orsystematic analysisuntil relatively recent times. Like retronymy, it became much more common in the twentieth century than it had formerly been.

Ancient examples of acronymy (before the term "acronym" was invented) include the following:

• Acronyms were used in Rome before the Christian era. For example, the official name for the Roman Empire, and the Republic before it, was abbreviated asSPQR(Senatus Populusque Romanus). Inscriptions dating from antiquity, both on stone and on coins, use many abbreviations and acronyms to save space and work. For example,Roman first names,of which there was only a small set, were almost always abbreviated. Common terms were abbreviated too, such as writing just "F" forfilius,meaning "son", a very common part of memorial inscriptions mentioning people. Grammatical markers were abbreviated or left out entirely if they could be inferred from the rest of the text.
• So-callednomina sacra('sacred names') were used in many Greek biblical manuscripts. The common words God (Θεός), Jesus (Ιησούς), Christ (Χριστός), and some others, would be abbreviated by their first and last letters, marked with an overline. This was just one of many kinds of conventional scribal abbreviation, used to reduce the time-consuming workload of the scribe and save on valuable writing materials. The same convention is still commonly used in the inscriptions on religiousiconsand the stamps used to mark the eucharistic bread inEastern Churches.
• The early Christians in Rome, most of whom were Greek rather than Latin speakers, used the image of a fish as a symbol forJesusin part because of an acronym (orbackronym): 'fish' in Greek isichthys(ΙΧΘΥΣ), which was construed to stand forἸησοῦς Χριστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ(Iesous Christos Theou huios Soter:'Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior'). This interpretation dates from the second and third centuries and is preserved in thecatacombsof Rome. Another ancient acronym for Jesus is the inscriptionINRIover the crucifix, for the LatinIesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum('Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews').
• Hebrewhas a millennia-long history of acronyms pronounced as words. Along with theophoric parallels to the Greek described above,Talmudicsages as early asRabbi Yehudashorten theten plaguesto דצ "ך עד" ש באח "ב, the order of blessings to יקנה" ז, etc., for the sake ofmnemonic.Therishonicperiod saw Hebrew acronymy expand to a lexicon of many hundreds, including every type of word and extending to proper nouns: almost all Medieval rabbis are known by acronyms likeRashiandRambam.

During the mid- to late nineteenth century, acronyms became a trend among American and European businessmen: abbreviatingcorporationnames, such as on the sides ofrailroad cars(e.g., "Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad" → "RF&P" ); on the sides of barrels and crates; and onticker tapeand newspaper stock listings (e.g. American Telephone and Telegraph Company → AT&T). Some well-known commercial examples dating from the 1890s through 1920s include "Nabisco"(" National Biscuit Company "),"Esso"(from" S.O. ", from"Standard Oil"), and"Sunoco"(" Sun Oil Company ").

Another field for the adoption of acronyms was modern warfare, with its many highly technical terms. While there is no recorded use of military acronyms dating from theAmerican Civil War(acronyms such as "ANV" for "Army of Northern Virginia"post-date the war itself), they became somewhat common inWorld War I,and byWorld War IIthey were widespread even in the slang of soldiers,who referred to themselves asG.I.s.

The widespread, frequent use of acronyms across the whole range of linguisticregistersis relatively new in most languages, becoming increasingly evident since the mid-twentieth century. As literacy spread and technology produced a constant stream of new and complex terms, abbreviations became increasingly convenient. TheOxford English Dictionary(OED) records the first printed use of the wordinitialismas occurring in 1899, but it did not come into general use until 1965, well afteracronymhad become common.

In English, acronymspronounced as wordsmay be a twentieth-century phenomenon. Linguist David Wilton inWord Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legendsclaims that "forming words from acronyms is a distinctly twentieth- (and now twenty-first-) century phenomenon. There is only one known pre-twentieth-century [English] word with an acronymic origin and it was in vogue for only a short time in 1886. The word iscolinderiesorcolinda,an acronym for theColonial and Indian Expositionheld in London in that year. "However, although acronymic words seem not to have beenemployed in general vocabularybefore the twentieth century (as Wilton points out), theconcept of their formationis treated as effortlessly understood (and evidently not novel) in anEdgar Allan Poestory of the 1830s, "How to Write a Blackwood Article",which includes the contrived acronym" P.R.E.T.T.Y.B.L.U.E.B.A.T.C.H. "

Early examples in English

The use of Latin and Neo-Latin terms invernacularshas been pan-European and pre-dates modern English. Some examples of acronyms in this class are:

• A.M.(from Latinante meridiem,'before noon') andP.M.(from Latinpost meridiem,'after noon')
• A.D.(from LatinAnno Domini,'in the year of our Lord'), whose complement in English,B.C.(Before Christ), is English-sourced

The earliest example of a word derived from an acronym listed by theOEDis "abjud" (now "abjad"), formed from the original first four letters of theArabic alphabetin the late eighteenth century.Someacrosticspre-date this, however, such as theRestorationwitticism arranging the names of some members ofCharles II's Committee for Foreign Affairs to produce the"CABAL" ministry.

OK,a term of disputed origin, dates back at least to the early nineteenth century and is now used around the world.

Current use

Acronyms are used most often to abbreviate names of organizations and long or frequently referenced terms. Thearmed forcesand government agencies frequently employ acronyms; some well-known examples from the United States are among the "alphabet agencies"(jokingly referred to as"alphabet soup") created under theNew DealbyFranklin D. Roosevelt(himself known as "FDR" ). Business and industry also coin acronyms prolifically. The rapid advance of science and technology also drives the usage, as new inventions and concepts with multiword names create a demand for shorter, more pronounceable names.One representative example, from the U.S. Navy, is "COMCRUDESPAC", which stands for "commander, cruisers destroyers Pacific"; it is also seen as "ComCruDesPac". Inventors are encouraged to anticipate the formation of acronyms by making new terms "YABA-compatible" ( "yet another bloody acronym" ), meaning the term's acronym can be pronounced and is not an offensive word: "When choosing a new name, be sure it is 'YABA-compatible'."

Acronym use has been further popularized by text messaging on mobile phones withshort message service(SMS), andinstant messenger(IM). To fit messages into the 160-character SMS limit, and to save time, acronyms such as "GF" ( "girlfriend" ), "LOL" ( "laughing out loud" ), and "DL" ( "download" or "down low" ) have become popular.Someprescriptivistsdisdain texting acronyms and abbreviations as decreasing clarity, or as failure to use "pure" or "proper" English. Others point out that languages have alwayscontinually changed,and argue that acronyms should be embraced as inevitable, or as innovation that adapts the language to changing circumstances. In this view, the modern practice is just the "proper" English of the current generation of speakers, much like the earlier abbreviation of corporation names on ticker tape or newspapers.

Exact pronunciation of "word acronyms" (those pronounced as words rather than sounded out as individual letters) often vary by speaker population. These may be regional, occupational, or generational differences, or simply personal preference. For instance, there have been decades of online debate about how to pronounceGIF(/ɡɪf/or/dʒɪf/) andBIOS(/ˈbaɪoʊs/,/ˈbaɪoʊz/,or/ˈbaɪɒs/). Similarly, some letter-by-letter initialisms may become word acronyms over time, especially in combining forms:IPforInternet Protocolis generally said as two letters, butIPsecforInternet Protocol Securityis usually pronounced as/ˌaɪˈpiːsɛk/or/ˈɪpsɛk/,along with variant capitalization like "IPSEC" and "Ipsec". Pronunciation may even vary within a single speaker's vocabulary, depending on narrow contexts. As an example, the database programming languageSQLis usually said as three letters, but in reference toMicrosoft's implementationis traditionally pronounced like the wordsequel.

Expansion at first use

In writing for a broad audience, the words of an acronym are typically written out in full at its first occurrence within a given text. Expansion At First Use (EAFU) benefits readers unfamiliar with the acronym.

Another text aid is an abbreviation key which lists and expands all acronyms used, a reference for readers who skipped past the first use. (This is especially important for paper media, where no search utility is available to find the first use.) It also gives students a convenient review list to memorize the important acronyms introduced in a textbook chapter.

Expansion at first use and abbreviation keys originated in the print era, but they are equally useful forelectronic text.

Jargon

While acronyms provide convenience and succinctness for specialists, they often degenerate into confusingjargon.This may be intentional, to exclude readers without domain-specific knowledge. New acronyms may also confuse when they coincide with an already existing acronym having a different meaning.

Medical literature has been struggling to control the proliferation of acronyms, including efforts by the American Academy of Dermatology.

As mnemonics

Acronyms are often taught asmnemonicdevices: for example the colors of the rainbow areROY G. BIV(red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). They are also used as mental checklists: in aviationGUMPSstands for gas-undercarriage-mixture-propeller-seat belts. Other mnemonic acronyms includeCAN SLIMin finance, PAVPANIC in English grammar, andPEMDASin mathematics.

Acronyms as legendary etymology

See also:Backronym

It is not uncommon for acronyms to be cited in a kind offalse etymology,called afolk etymology,for a word. Such etymologies persist in popular culture but have no factual basis inhistorical linguistics,and are examples of language-relatedurban legends.For example, "cop"is commonly cited as being derived, it is presumed, from" constable on patrol ",and "posh"from"port outward, starboard home".With some of these specious expansions, the "belief" that the etymology is acronymic has clearly beentongue-in-cheekamong many citers, as with "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden" for "golf",although many other (morecredulous) people have uncritically taken it for fact.Taboo wordsin particular commonly have such false etymologies: "shit"from" ship/store high in transit "or "special high-intensity training" and "fuck"from" for unlawful carnal knowledge ", or" fornication under consent/command of the king ".

Orthographic styling

Punctuation

Showing the ellipsis of letters

In English, abbreviations have previously been marked by a wide variety ofpunctuation.Obsolete forms include using anoverbarorcolonto show theellipsisof letters following the initial part. Theforward slashis still common in many dialects for some fixed expressions—such as inw/for "with" orA/Cfor "air conditioning"—while only infrequently being used to abbreviate new terms. Theapostropheis common forgrammatical contractions(e.g.don't,y'all,andain't) and for contractions marking unusual pronunciations (e.g.a'ight,cap'n,andfo'c'slefor "all right", "captain", and "forecastle" ). By the early twentieth century, it was standard to use afull stop/period/point,especially in the cases of initialisms and acronyms. Previously, especially forLatin abbreviations,this was done with a full space between every full word (e.g.A. D.,i. e.,ande. g.for "Anno Domini","id est",and"exempli gratia"). This even included punctuation after bothRomanandArabic numeralsto indicate their use in place of the full names of each number (e.g.LII.or52.in place of "fifty-two" and "1/4." or "1./4." to indicate "one-fourth" ). Both conventions have fallen out of common use in all dialects of English, except in places where an Arabicdecimalincludes a medialdecimal point.

Particularly inBritishandCommonwealth English,all such punctuation marking acronyms and other capitalized abbreviations is now uncommon and considered either unnecessary or incorrect. The presence of all-capital letters is now thought sufficient to indicate the nature of theUK,theEU,and theUN.Forms such asthe U.S.A.for "theUnited States of America"are now considered to indicateAmericanorNorth American English.Even within those dialects, such punctuation is becoming increasingly uncommon.

Ellipsis-is-understood style

Somestyle guides,such as that of theBBC,no longer require punctuation to showellipsis;some even proscribe it.Larry Trask,American author ofThePenguinGuide to Punctuation,states categorically that, inBritish English,"this tiresome and unnecessary practice is now obsolete."

Pronunciation-dependent style and periods

Nevertheless, some influentialstyle guides,many of themAmerican,still require periods in certain instances. For example,The New York Times Manual of Style and Usagerecommends following each segment with a period when the letters are pronounced individually, as in "K.G.B.",but not when pronounced as a word, as in"NATO".The logic of this style is that the pronunciation is reflected graphically by the punctuation scheme.

Other conventions

When a multiple-letter abbreviation is formed from a single word, periods are in general not used, although they may be common in informal usage. "TV", for example, may stand for asingleword ( "television" or "transvestite", for instance), and is in general spelled without punctuation (except in the plural). Although "PS" stands for the single English word "postscript"or the Latinpostscriptum,it is often spelled with periods ( "P.S." ) as if parsed as Latinpost scriptuminstead.

Theslash('/', orsolidus) is sometimes used to separate the letters in an acronym, as in "N/A" ( "not applicable, not available" ) and "c/o" ( "care of" ).

Inconveniently long words used frequently in related contexts can be represented according to their letter count as anumeronym.For example, "i18n" abbreviates "internationalization",a computer-science term for adapting software for worldwide use; the" 18 "represents the 18 letters that come between the first and the last in" internationalization ". Similarly," localization "can be abbreviated" l10n ";"multilingualization""m17n "; and"accessibility""a11y ". In addition to the use of a specific number replacing that many letters, the more general" x "can be used to replace an unspecified number of letters. Examples include" Crxn "for" crystallization "and the series familiar to physicians forhistory,diagnosis,andtreatment( "hx", "dx", "tx" ). Terms relating to a command structure may also sometimes use this formatting, for example gold, silver, and bronze levels of command in UK policing being referred to as Gx, Sx, and Bx.

Representing plurals and possessives

There is a question about how to pluralize acronyms. Often a writer will add an 's' following an apostrophe, as in "PC's". However,Kate L. Turabian'sA Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations,writing about style in academic writings,allows for an apostrophe to form plural acronyms "only when an abbreviation contains internal periods or both capital and lowercase letters". Turabian would therefore prefer "DVDs" and "URLs" but "Ph.D.'s". The style guides of theModern Language AssociationandAmerican Psychological Associationprohibit apostrophes from being used to pluralize acronyms regardless of periods (so "compact discs" would be "CDs" or "C.D.s" ), whereasThe New York Times Manual of Style and Usagerequires an apostrophe when pluralizing all abbreviations regardless of periods (preferring "PC's, TV's and VCR's" ).

Possessive plurals that also include apostrophes for mere pluralization and periods appear especially complex: for example, "the C.D.'s' labels" (the labels of the compact discs). In some instances, however, an apostrophe may increase clarity: for example, if the final letter of an abbreviation is "S", as in "SOS's" (although abbreviations ending with S can also take "-es", e.g. "SOSes" ), or when pluralizing an abbreviation that has periods.

A particularly rich source of options arises when the plural of an acronym would normally be indicated in a word other than the final word if spelled out in full. A classic example is "Member of Parliament", which in plural is "Members of Parliament". It is possible then to abbreviate this as "M's P", which was fairly common in mid-twentieth-century Australian news writing(or similar), and used by former Australian Prime MinisterBen Chifley.This usage is less common than forms with "s" at the end, such as "MPs", and may appear dated or pedantic. In common usage, therefore, "weapons of mass destruction" becomes "WMDs", "prisoners of war" becomes "POWs", and "runs batted in" becomes "RBIs".

Abbreviations that come from single, rather than multiple, words – such as "TV" ( "television" ) – are usually pluralized without apostrophes ( "two TVs" ); most writers feel that the apostrophe should be reserved for the possessive ( "the TV's antenna" ).

In some languages, the convention of doubling the letters in the acronym is used to indicate plural words: for example, the SpanishEE.UU.,forEstados Unidos('United States'). This old convention is still sometimes followed for a limited number of English abbreviations, such asSS.forSaints,pp.for the plural of 'pages', ormss.formanuscripts.

Further information:English possessive

Case

All-caps style

The most commoncapitalizationscheme seen with acronyms is all-uppercase (all caps).Small capsare sometimes used to make the run of capital letters seem less jarring to the reader. For example, the style of some American publications, including theAtlantic MonthlyandUSA Today,is to use small caps for acronyms longer than three letters;thus "U.S." and "FDR"in normal caps, but"nato"in small caps. The acronyms"AD"and"BC"are often smallcapped as well, as in:" From4004bctoad525".

Normal case and anacronyms

Where an acronym has linguistically taken on an identity as regular word, the acronym may use normal case rules, e.g. it would appear generally in lower case, but with an initial capital when starting a sentence or when in a title. Once knowledge of the words underlying such an acronym has faded from common recall, the acronym may be termed ananacronym.Examples of anacronyms are the words "scuba","radar",and"laser".The word" anacronym "should not be confused with the word"anachronym",which is a type of misnomer.

Mixed-case variant

Words derived from an acronym by affixing are typically expressed in mixed case, so the root acronym is clear. For example, "pre-WWII politics", "post-NATO world", "DNase".In some cases a derived acronym may also be expressed in mixed case. For example,"messenger RNA"and"transfer RNA"become" mRNA "and" tRNA ".

Pronunciation-dependent style and case

Some publications choose to capitalize only the first letter of acronyms, reserving all-caps styling for initialisms, writing the pronounced acronyms "Nato" and "Aids" in mixed case, but the initialisms "USA" and "FBI" in all caps. For example, this is the style used inThe Guardian,andBBC Newstypically edits to this style (though its official style guide, dating from 2003, still recommends all-caps). The logic of this style is that the pronunciation is reflected graphically by the capitalization scheme. However, it conflicts with conventional English usage of first-letter upper-casing as a marker of proper names in many cases; e.g.AIDSstands foracquired immuno-deficiency syndromewhich is not a proper name, whileAidsis in the style of one.

Some style manuals also base the letters'caseon their number.The New York Times,for example, keeps "NATO" in all capitals (while several guides in the British press may render it "Nato" ), but uses lower case in "Unicef"(from" United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund ") because it is more than four letters, and to style it in caps might look ungainly (flirting with the appearance of" shouting capitals ").

Numerals and constituent words

While abbreviations typically exclude the initials of shortfunction words(such as "and", "or", "of", or "to" ), this is not always the case. Sometimes function words are included to make a pronounceable acronym, such as CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). Sometimes the letters representing these words are written in lower case, such as in the cases of "TfL" ( "Transport for London") andLotR(The Lord of the Rings); this usually occurs when the acronym represents a multi-word proper noun.

Numbers (bothcardinalandordinal) in names are often represented bydigitsrather than initial letters, as in "4GL" ( "fourth generation language") or" G77 "("Group of 77"). Large numbers may usemetric prefixes,as with "Y2K"for" Year 2000 ". Exceptions using initials for numbers include"TLA"(" three-letter acronym/abbreviation ") and" GoF "("Gang of Four"). Abbreviations using numbers for other purposes include repetitions, such as"A2DP"(" Advanced Audio Distribution Profile "),"W3C"(" World Wide Web Consortium "), andT3(Trends, Tips & Tools for Everyday Living); pronunciation, such as "B2B"(" business to business "); andnumeronyms,such as "i18n" ( "internationalization"; "18" represents the 18 letters between the initial "i" and the final "n" ).

Casing of expansions

Authors ofexpository writingwill sometimes capitalize or otherwise distinctively format the initials of the expansion forpedagogicalemphasis (for example, writing: "the onset of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)" or "the onset ofcongestiveheartfailure (CHF) "). Capitalization like this, however, conflicts with the convention of English orthography, which generally reserves capitals in the middle of sentences for proper nouns; when following theAMA Manual of Style,this would instead be rendered as "the onset of congestive heart failure (CHF)".

Changes to (or wordplay on) the expanded meaning

Pseudo-acronyms and orphan initialisms

Some apparent acronyms or other abbreviations do not stand for anything and cannot be expanded to some meaning. Such pseudo-acronyms may be pronunciation-based, such as "BBQ" (bee-bee-cue), for "barbecue", and "K9" (kay-nine) for "canine". Pseudo-acronyms also frequently develop as "orphan initialisms": an existing acronym is redefined as a non-acronymous name, severing its link to its previous meaning.For example, the letters of the "SAT",a US college entrance test originally dubbed" Scholastic Aptitude Test ", no longer officially stand for anything.The US-basedabortion-rightsorganization "NARAL"is another example of this; in that case, the organization changed its name three times, with the long-form of the name always corresponding to the letters" NARAL ", before eventually opting to simply be known by the short-form, without being connected to a long-form.

This is common with companies that want to retainbrand recognitionwhile moving away from an outdated image: American Telephone and Telegraph becameAT&TandBritish Petroleumbecame BP.Russia Todayhas rebranded itself asRT.American Movie Classicshas simply rebranded itself as AMC. Genzyme Transgenics Corporation became GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc.;The Learning Channelbecame TLC;MTVdropped the name Music Television out of its brand; andAmerican District Telegraphbecame simply known as ADT. "Kentucky Fried Chicken"went partway, re-branding itself with its initialism" KFC "to de-emphasize the role of frying in the preparation of its signature dishes, though they have since returned to using both interchangeably.The East Coast Hockey League became theECHLwhen it expanded to include cities in the western United States prior to the 2003–2004 season.

Pseudo-acronyms may have advantages in international markets:for example, some nationalaffiliatesofInternational Business Machinesare legally incorporated with "IBM" in their names (for example, IBM Canada) to avoid translating the full name into local languages.Likewise,UBSis the name of the mergedUnion Bank of SwitzerlandandSwiss Bank Corporation,andHSBChas replaced the long name Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Some companies which have a name giving a clear indication of their place of origin will choose to use acronyms when expanding to foreign markets: for example,Toronto-Dominion Bankcontinues to operate under the full name in Canada, but its U.S. subsidiary is known asTD Bank,just asRoyal Bank of Canadaused its full name in Canada (aconstitutional monarchy), but its U.S. subsidiary is calledRBC Bank.The India-basedJSW Groupof companies is another example of the original name (Jindal South West Group) being re-branded into a pseudo-acronym while expanding into other geographical areas in and outside of India.

Redundant acronyms and RAS syndrome

Main article:RAS syndrome

Rebranding can lead toredundant acronym syndrome,as whenTrustee Savings Bankbecame TSB Bank, or whenRailway Express Agencybecame REA Express. A fewhigh-techcompanies have taken the redundant acronym to the extreme: for example, ISM Information Systems Management Corp. and SHL Systemhouse Ltd. Examples in entertainment include the television showsCSI: Crime Scene InvestigationandNavy: NCIS( "Navy" was dropped in the second season), where the redundancy was likely designed to educate new viewers as to what the initials stood for. The same reasoning was in evidence when theRoyal Bank of Canada's Canadian operations rebranded to RBC Royal Bank, or whenBank of Montrealrebranded their retail banking subsidiary BMO Bank of Montreal.

Another common example is "RAMmemory ", which is redundant because" RAM "(" random-access memory ") includes the initial of the word" memory "." PIN "stands for" personal identification number ", obviating the second word in"PINnumber "; in this case its retention may be motivated to avoid ambiguity with the homophonous word" pin ". Other examples include"ATMmachine ","EABbank ","HIVvirus ", Microsoft'sNTTechnology, and the formerly redundant "SATtest ", now simply" SAT Reasoning Test ").TNN(The Nashville/National Network) also renamed itself "The New TNN" for a brief interlude.

Redefined acronyms

In some cases, while the initials in an acronym may stay the same, for what those letters stand may change. Examples include the following:

• DVDwas originally an acronym for the unofficial term "digital video disc", but is now stated by theDVD Forumas standing for "Digital Versatile Disc"
• GAOchanged the full form of its name from "General Accounting Office" to "Government Accountability Office"
• GPOchanged the full form of its name from "Government Printing Office" to "Government Publishing Office"
• RAIDwas originally an acronym for "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks" but has since been redefined as "Redundant Array of Independent Disks"
• TheUICCwas founded as the "International Union Against Cancer",and its initials originally came from theRomance-languageversions of that name (such as FrenchUnion Internationale Contre le Cancer). The English expansion of its name has since been changed to "Union for International Cancer Control" so that it would also correspond to the UICC acronym.
• WWFwas originally an acronym for "World Wildlife Fund", but now stands for "World Wide Fund for Nature" (although the organization's branches in the U.S. and Canada still use the original name)

Backronyms

Main article:Backronym

Abackronym(orbacronym) is aphrasethat is constructed "after the fact" from a previously existing word. For example, the novelist and criticAnthony Burgessonce proposed that the word "book" ought to stand for "box of organized knowledge".A classic real-world example of this is the name of the predecessor to the Apple Macintosh, theApple Lisa,which was said to refer to "Local Integrated Software Architecture", but was actually named after Steve Jobs's daughter, born in 1978.

Backronyms are oftentimes used for comedic effect.An example of creating a backronym for comedic effect would be in naming a group or organization, the name "A.C.R.O.N.Y.M." stands for (among other things) "a clever regiment of nerdy young men".

Contrived acronyms

Acronyms are sometimescontrived,that is, deliberately designed to be especially apt for the thing being named (by having a dual meaning or by borrowing the positive connotations of an existing word). Some examples of contrived acronyms areUSA PATRIOT,CAN SPAM,CAPTCHAandACT UP.The clothing companyFrench Connectionbegan referring to itself asfcuk,standing for "French Connection United Kingdom". The company then created T-shirts and several advertising campaigns that exploit the acronym's similarity to the taboo word "fuck".Contrived acronyms find frequent use as names offictional agencies,with a famous example being frequentJames Bondantagonist organizationSPECTRE(SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion).

TheU.S. Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is known for developing contrived acronyms to name projects, includingRESURRECT,NIRVANA,andDUDE.In July 2010,Wiredmagazine reported that DARPA announced programs to "transform biology from a descriptive to a predictive field of science" namedBATMANandROBINfor "Biochronicity and Temporal Mechanisms Arising in Nature" and "Robustness of Biologically-Inspired Networks",a reference to theBatmanandRobincomic-book superheroes.

The short-formnames of clinical trialsand other scientific studies constitute a large class of acronyms that includes many contrived examples, as well as many with a partial rather than complete correspondence of letters to expansion components. These trials tend to have full names that are accurately descriptive of what the trial is about but are thus also too long to serve practically asnameswithin the syntax of a sentence, so a short name is also developed, which can serve as a syntactically useful handle and also provide at least a degree ofmnemonicreminder as to the full name. Examples widely known inmedicineinclude the ALLHAT trial (Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial) and the CHARM trial (Candesartan in Heart Failure: Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and Morbidity). The fact thatRAS syndromeis often involved, as well as that the letters often do not entirely match, have sometimes been pointed out by annoyed researchers preoccupied by the idea that because thearchetypalform of acronyms originated with one-to-one letter matching, there must be some impropriety in their ever deviating from that form. However, theraison d'êtreof clinical trial acronyms, as withgene and protein symbols,is simply to have a syntactically usable and easilyrecalledshort name to complement the long name that is often syntactically unusable and notmemorized.It is useful for the short name to give a reminder of the long name, which supports the reasonable censure of "cutesy" examples that provide little to no hint of it. But beyond that reasonably close correspondence, the short name's chief utility is in functioning cognitively as aname,rather than being acrypticand forgettable string, albeit faithful to the matching of letters. However, other reasonable critiques have been (1) that it is irresponsible to mention trial acronyms without explaining them at least once by providing the long names somewhere in the document,and (2) that the proliferation of trial acronyms has resulted in ambiguity, such as three different trials all called ASPECT, which is another reason why failing to explain them somewhere in the document is irresponsible in scientific communication.At least one study has evaluated thecitation impactand other traits of acronym-named trials compared with others,finding both good aspects (mnemonic help, name recall) and potential flaws (connotativelydrivenbias).

Some acronyms are chosen deliberately to avoid a name considered undesirable: For example,Verliebt in Berlin(ViB), a Germantelenovela,was first intended to beAlles nur aus Liebe('All for Love'), but was changed to avoid the resultant acronymANAL.Likewise, the Computer Literacy and Internet Technology qualification is known asCLaIT,rather thanCLIT.In Canada, theCanadian Conservative Reform Alliance (Party)was quickly renamed to the "Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance" when its opponents pointed out that its initials spelled CCRAP (pronounced "seecrap"). Two Irish institutes of technology (Galway and Tralee) chose different acronyms from other institutes when they were upgraded from regional technical colleges. Tralee RTC became the Institute of Technology Tralee (ITT), as opposed to Tralee Institute of Technology (TIT). Galway RTC became Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), as opposed to Galway Institute of Technology (GIT). The charity sports organizationTeam in Trainingis known as "TNT" and not "TIT".Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences,however, is still known as "TITS".George Mason Universitywas planning to name their law school the "Antonin Scalia School of Law" (ASSOL) in honor of the lateAntonin Scalia,only to change it to the "Antonin Scalia Law School"later.

Macronyms/nested acronyms

Amacronym,ornested acronym,is an acronym in which one or more letters stand for acronyms (or abbreviations) themselves. The word "macronym" is aportmanteauof "macro-"and" acronym ".

Some examples of macronyms are:

• XHRstands for "XML HTTP Request", in which "XML"is" Extensible Markup Language ", andHTTPstands for "HyperText Transfer Protocol"
• POWERstands for "Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC", in which "RISC"stands for" reduced instruction set computer "
• VHDLstands for "VHSIC Hardware Description Language", in which "VHSIC"stands for" Very High Speed Integrated Circuit "
• XSDstands for "XML Schema Definition", in which "XML"stands for" Extensible Markup Language "
• AIMstands for "AOL Instant Messenger", in which "AOL"originally stood for" America Online "
• HASPstood for "Houston Automatic Spooling Priority", but "spooling"itself was an acronym:" simultaneous peripheral operations on-line "
• VORTACstands for "VOR+TACAN", in which "VOR" is "VHF omnidirectional range"(where VHF = very high frequency radio) and" TAC "is short forTACAN,which stands for "tactical air navigation"
• Global Information Assurance Certificationhas a number of nested acronyms for its certifications, e.g. "GSEC" is an acronym for "GIAC Security Essentials"
• RBDstands for "REM Behavior Disorder", in which "REM"stands for" rapid eye movement "

Some macronyms can be multiply nested: the second-order acronym points to another one further down a hierarchy. In an informal competition run by the magazineNew Scientist,a fully documented specimen was discovered that may be the most deeply nested of all: RARS is the "Regional ATOVS Retransmission Service"; ATOVS is "Advanced TOVS"; TOVS is "TIROSoperational vertical sounder "; and TIROS is" Television infrared observational satellite ".Fully expanded, "RARS" might thus become "Regional Advanced Television Infrared Observational Satellite Operational Vertical Sounder Retransmission Service", which would produce the much more unwieldy acronym "RATIOSOVSRS".

Another example isVITAL,which expands to "VHDLInitiative TowardsASICLibraries "(a total of 15 words when fully expanded).

However, to say that "RARS" stands directly for that string of words, or can be interchanged with it insyntax(in the same way that "CHF" can be usefully interchanged with "congestive heart failure" ), is aprescriptivemisapprehension rather than a linguistically accurate description; the true nature of such a term is closer toanacronymicthan to being interchangeable like simpler acronyms are. The latter are fully reducible in an attempt to "spell everything out and avoid all abbreviations", but the former are irreducible in that respect; they can beannotatedwith parenthetical explanations, but they cannot be eliminated from speech or writing in any useful or practical way. Just as the wordslaserandradarfunction as words insyntaxandcognitionwithout a need to focus on their acronymic origins, terms such as "RARS" and "CHA2DS2–VASc score"are irreducible innatural language;if they are purged, the form of language that is left may conform to some imposed rule, but it cannot be described as remaining natural. Similarly,proteinandgenenomenclature,which uses symbols extensively,includes such terms as the name of theNACHT protein domain,which reflects the symbols of some proteins that contain the domain – NAIP (NLR family apoptosisinhibitor protein), C2TA (major histocompatibility complex class II transcription activator), HET-E (incompatibility locus protein fromPodospora anserine), and TP1 (telomerase-associated protein) – but is not syntactically reducible to them. The name is thus itself more symbol than acronym, and its expansion cannot replace it while preserving its function in natural syntax as anamewithin aclauseclearlyparsableby human readers or listeners.

Recursive acronyms

Main article:Recursive acronym

A special type of macronym, therecursive acronym,has letters whose expansion refers back to the macronym itself. One of the earliest examples appears inThe Hacker's DictionaryasMUNG,which stands for "MUNG Until No Good".

Some examples of recursive acronyms are:

• GNUstands for "GNU's Not Unix!"
• LAMEstands for "LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder"
• PHPstands for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor"
• WINEstands for "WINE Is Not an Emulator"
• HURDstands for "HIRD of Unix-replacing daemons", where HIRD itself stands for "HURD of interfaces representing depth" (a "mutually recursive" acronym)

Non-English languages

Specific languages

Chinese

With English terminology, discussions of languages withsyllabicorlogographicwriting systems (such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean), "acronyms" describe the short forms that take selected characters from a multi-character word.

For example, in Chinese, 'university' (Đại học/Đại học,lit. 'great learning') is usually abbreviated simply asĐại('great') when used with the name of the institute. So 'Peking University' (Bắc kinh đại học) is commonly shortened toBắc đại(lit.'north-great') by also only taking the first character ofPeking,the "northern capital" (Bắc kinh;Beijing). In some cases, however, other characters than the first can be selected. For example, the local short form of 'Hong Kong University' (Hương cảng đại học) usesKong(Cảng đại) rather thanHong.

There are also cases where some longer phrases are abbreviated drastically, especially in Chinese politics, where proper nouns were initially translated from Soviet Leninist terms. For instance, the full name of China's highest ruling council, thePolitburo Standing Committee(PSC), is 'Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China' (Trung quốc cộng sản đảng trung ương chính trị cục thường vụ ủy viên hội). The term then reduced the 'Communist Party of China' part of its name through acronyms, then the 'Standing Committee' part, again through acronyms, to createTrung cộng trung ương chính trị cục thường ủy.Alternatively, it omitted the 'Communist Party' part altogether, creating 'Politburo Standing Committee' (Chính trị cục thường ủy hội), and eventually just 'Standing Committee' (Thường ủy hội). The PSC's members full designations are 'Member of the Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China' (Trung quốc cộng sản đảng trung ương chính trị cục thường vụ ủy viên hội ủy viên); this was eventually drastically reduced to simplyChangwei(Thường ủy), with the termRuchang(Nhập thường) used increasingly for officials destined for a future seat on the PSC. In another example, the wordToàn quốc nhân dân đại biểu đại hội('National People's Congress') can be broken into four parts:Toàn quốc= 'the whole nation',Nhân dân= 'people',Đại biểu= 'representatives',Đại hội= 'conference'. Yet, in its short formNhân đại(literally 'man/people big'), only the first characters from the second and the fourth parts are selected; the first part (Toàn quốc) and the third part (Đại biểu) are completely dropped.

Many proper nouns become shorter and shorter over time. For example, theCCTV New Year's Gala,whose full name is literally read as 'China Central Television Spring Festival Joint Celebration Evening Gala' (Trung quốc trung ương điện thị đài xuân tiết liên hoan vãn hội) was first shortened to 'Spring Festival Joint Celebration Evening Gala' (Xuân tiết liên hoan vãn hội), but eventually referred to as simplyChunwan(Xuân vãn). In the same vein, CCTV orZhongguo Zhongyang Dianshi Tai(Trung quốc trung ương điện thị đài) was reduced toYangshi(Ương thị) in the mid-2000s.

Korean

Many aspects of academics in Korea follow similar acronym patterns as Chinese, owing to the two languages' commonalities, like using the word for 'big' or 'great' i.e.dae(대), to refer to universities (대학;daehak,literally 'great learning' although 'big school' is an acceptable alternate). They can be interpreted similarly to American university appellations, such as "UPenn" or "Texas Tech".

Some acronyms are shortened forms of the school's name, like howHongik University(홍익대학교,Hongik Daehakgyo) is shortened toHongdae(홍대,'Hong, the big [school]' or 'Hong-U') Other acronyms can refer to the university's main subject, e.g.Korea National University of Education(한국교원대학교,Hanguk Gyowon Daehakgyo) is shortened toGyowondae(교원대, 'Big Ed.' or 'Ed.-U'). Other schools use a Koreanized version of their English acronym. TheKorea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(한국과학기술원,Hanguk Gwahak Gisulwon) is referred to as KAIST (카이스트,Kaiseuteu) in both English and Korean. The 3 most prestigious schools in Korea are known as SKY (스카이,seukai), combining the first letter of their English names (Seoul National,Korea, andYonsei Universities). In addition, the College Scholastic Ability Test (대학수학능력시험,Daehak Suhang Neungryeok Siheom) is shortened toSuneung(수능,'S.A.').

Japanese

Main article:Japanese abbreviated and contracted words

TheJapanese languagemakes extensive use of abbreviations, but only some of these are acronyms.

Chinese-based words (Sino-Japanese vocabulary) uses similar acronym formation to Chinese, likeTōdai(Đông đại)forTōkyō Daigaku(Đông kinh đại học,Tokyo University).In some cases alternative pronunciations are used, as inSaikyōfor kỳ kinh, fromSaitama+Tōkyō(Kỳ ngọc ＋ đông kinh),rather than Saitō.

Non-Chinese foreign borrowings (gairaigo) are instead frequently abbreviated asclipped compounds,rather than acronyms, using several initial sounds. This is visible inkatakanatranscriptions of foreign words, but is also found with native words (written inhiragana). For example, thePokémonmedia franchise's name originally stood for "pocket monsters" (ポケット·モンスター[po-ke-tto-mon-su-tā] →ポケモン), which is still the long-form of the name in Japanese, and "wāpuro"stands for"word processor"(ワード·プロセッサー[wā-do-pu-ro-se-ssā]→ワープロ).

German

To a greater degree than English does, German tends toward acronyms that use initial syllables rather than initial single letters, although it uses many of the latter type as well. Some examples of the syllabic type areGestaporather thanGSP(forGeheime Staatspolizei,'Secret State Police');Flakrather thanFAK(forFliegerabwehrkanone,'anti-aircraftgun');Kriporather thanKP(forKriminalpolizei,'detective division police'). The extension of such contraction to a pervasive or whimsical degree has been mockingly labeledAküfi(forAbkürzungsfimmel,'strange habit of abbreviating'). Examples ofAküfiincludeVokuhila(forvorne kurz, hinten lang,'short in the front, long in the back', i.e., amullethaircut) and the mocking ofAdolf Hitler's title asGröfaz(Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten,'Greatest General of all Time').

Hebrew

Main article:Hebrew acronyms

It is common to take more than just one initial letter from each of the words composing the acronym; regardless of this, the abbreviation signgershayim⟨״⟩is always written between the second-last and last letters of the non-inflected form of the acronym, even if by this it separates letters of the same original word. Examples (keep in mind Hebrew reads right-to-left):ארה״ב(forארצות הברית,the United States);ברה״מ(forברית המועצות,the Soviet Union);ראשל״צ(forראשון לציון,Rishon LeZion);ביה״ס(forבית הספר,the school). An example that takes only the initial letters from its component words isצה״ל(Tzahal,forצבא הגנה לישראל,Israel Defense Forces). In inflected forms, the abbreviation signgershayimremains between the second-last and last letters of the non-inflected form of the acronym (e.g. 'report', singular:דו״ח,plural:דו״חות;'squad commander', masculine:מ״כ,feminine:מ״כית).

Indonesian

See also:List of Indonesian acronyms and abbreviations

There is also a widespread use of acronyms inIndonesiain every aspect of social life. For example, theGolkarpolitical party stands forPartai Golongan Karya,Monasstands forMonumen Nasional('National Monument'), theAngkotpublic transport stands forAngkutan Kota('city public transportation'),warnetstands forwarung internet('internet cafe'), and many others. Some acronyms are considered formal (or officially adopted), while many more are considered informal,slang,orcolloquial.

The capital's metropolitan area (Jakartaand its surroundingsatellite regions),Jabodetabek,is another acronym. This stands forJakarta-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi.Many highways are also named by the acronym method; e.g.Jalan Tol('Toll Road')Jagorawi(Jakarta-Bogor-Ciawi),Purbaleunyi(Purwakarta-Bandung-Cileunyi), andJoglo Semar(Jogja-Solo-Semarang).

In some languages, especially those that use certainalphabets,many acronyms come from the governmental use, particularly in the military and law enforcement services. TheIndonesian military(TNI –Tentara Nasional Indonesia) andIndonesian police(POLRI –Kepolisian Republik Indonesia) are known for heavy acronyms use. Examples include theKopassus(Komando Pasukan Khusus;'Special ForcesCommand'),Kopaska(Komando Pasukan Katak;'FrogmenCommand'),Kodim(Komando Distrik Militer;'Military District Command' – one of the Indonesian army'sadministrative divisions),Serka(Sersan Kepala;'HeadSergeant'),Akmil(Akademi Militer;'Military Academy' – inMagelang), and many other terms regardingranks,units, divisions, procedures, etc.

Malay

Although not as common as in Indonesian, a number of Malay words are formed by merging two words, such astadikafromtaman didikan kanak-kanak('kindergarten') andpawagamfrompanggung wayang gambar.This, however, has been less prevalent in the modern era, in contrary to Indonesian. It is still often for names such as organisation names, among the most famous being MARA fromMajlis Amanah Rakyat('People's Trust Council'), a government agency in Malaysia.

Some acronyms are developed from theJawi(Malay in Arabic script) spelling of the name and may not reflect its Latin counterpart such as PAS fromParti Islam Se-Malaysia('Malaysian Islamic Party') which originated from the Jawi acronymڤاس from ڤرتي إسلام سمليسيا,with the same pronunciation, since the first letter of the word 'Islam' in Jawi uses the letterAleph,which is pronounced like the letterAwhen in such position as in the acronym.

Rules in writing initialisms in Malay differ based on its script. In its Latin form, the initialism would be spelt much like in English, using capitals written without any spacing, such as TNB forTenaga NasionalBerhad.

In Jawi, however, the way initialisms are different depending on the source language. For Malay initialisms, the initial Jawi letters would be written separated by a period such asد.ب.ڤforديوان بهاس دان ڤوستاک.If the initialism is from a different language, however, it would be written by transliterating each letter from the original language, such asعيم.سي.عيم.سي.forMCMC,orالفا.ڤي.ثيتاforΑ.Π.Θ.

Russian

Acronyms that use parts of words (not necessarily syllables) are commonplace in Russian as well, e.g.Газпром(Gazprom), forГазовая промышленность(Gazovaya promyshlennost,'gas industry'). There are also initialisms, such asСМИ('SMI', forсредства массовой информацииsredstva massovoy informatsii,'means of mass informing';ГУЛаг(GULag) combines two initials and three letters of the final word: it stands forГлавное управление лагерей(Glavnoe upravlenie lagerey,'Chief Administration of Camps').

Historically,OTMAwas an acronym sometimes used by the daughters ofEmperorNicholas II of Russiaand his consort,Alexandra Feodorovna,as a group nickname for themselves, built from the first letter of each girl's name in the order of their births: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia.

Swahili

InSwahili,acronyms are common for naming organizations such asTUKI,which stands forTaasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili('Institute for Swahili Research'). Multiple initial letters (often the initial syllable of words) are often drawn together, as seen more in some languages than others.

Vietnamese

InVietnamese,which has an abundance of compound words, initialisms are very commonly used for both proper and common nouns. Examples includeTP.HCM(Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh,'Ho Chi Minh City'),THPT(trung học phổ thông,'high school'),CLB(câu lạc bộ,'club'),CSDL(cơ sở dữ liệu,'database'),NXB(nhà xuất bản,'publisher'),ÔBACE(ông bà anh chị em,a general form of address), andCTTĐVN(các Thánh tử đạo Việt Nam,'Vietnamese Martyrs'). Longer examples includeCHXHCNVN(Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam,'Socialist Republic of Vietnam') andMTDTGPMNVN(Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng miền Nam Việt Nam,'Liberation Army of South Vietnam or the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam'). Long initialisms have become widespread in legal contexts inVietnam,for exampleTTLT-VKSNDTC-TANDTC.It is also common for a writer to coin an ad hoc initialism for repeated use in an article.

Each letter in an initialism corresponds to onemorpheme,that is, one syllable. When the first letter of a syllable has a tone mark or other diacritic, the diacritic may be omitted from the initialism, for exampleĐNAorĐNÁforĐông Nam Á('Southeast Asia') andLMCAorLMCÂforLiên minh châu Âu('European Union'). The letterƯis often replaced byWin initialisms to avoid confusion withU,for exampleUBTWMTTQVNorUBTƯMTTQVNforỦy ban Trung ương Mặt trận Tổ quốc Việt Nam('Central Committee of theVietnamese Fatherland Front').

Initialisms are purely a written convenience, being pronounced the same way as their expansions. As thenames of many Vietnamese lettersare disyllabic, it would be less convenient to pronounce an initialism by its individual letters. Acronyms pronounced as words are rare in Vietnamese, occurring when an acronym itself is borrowed from another language. Examples includeSIĐA(pronounced[s̪i˧ˀɗaː˧]), a respelling of the French acronymSIDA('AIDS');VOA(pronounced[vwaː˧]), a literal reading of the English initialism for 'Voice of America'; andNASA(pronounced[naː˧zaː˧]), borrowed directly from the English acronym.

As inChinese,many compound words can be shortened to the first syllable when forming a longer word. For example, the termViệt Cộngis derived from the first syllables ofViệt Nam('Vietnam') andCộng sản('communist'). This mechanism is limited toSino-Vietnamese vocabulary.Unlike with Chinese, suchclipped compoundsare considered to beportmanteauwords orblend wordsrather than acronyms or initialisms, because theVietnamese alphabetstill requires each component word to be written as more than one character.

General grammatical considerations

Declension

In languages where nouns aredeclined,various methods are used. An example isFinnish,where a colon is used to separate inflection from the letters:

• An acronym is pronounced as a word:NATOor Nato[ˈnɑto]–Natoon[ˈnɑtoːn]'into Nato'; another example isNasalta'fromNASA'
• An acronym is pronounced as letters: EU[ˈeːˌʔuː]–EU:hun[ˈeːˌʔuːhun]'into [the] EU'
• An acronym is interpreted as words: EU[euroːpanunioni]–EU:iin[ˈeu̯roːpɑnˌunioniːn]'into [the] EU'

The process above is similar to the way that hyphens are used for clarity in English when prefixes are added to acronyms: thuspre-NATO policy(rather thanpreNATO).

Lenition

In languages such asScottish GaelicandIrish,wherelenition(initial consonant mutation) is commonplace, acronyms must also be modified in situations where case and context dictate it. In the case of Scottish Gaelic, a lower-casehis often added after the initial consonant; for example, 'BBC Scotland' in the genitive case would be written asBhBC Alba,with the acronym pronouncedVBC.Likewise, the Gaelic acronym fortelebhisean'television' isTBh,pronouncedTV,as in English.

See also

• Acrostic– Text formed from parts of another text
• Amalgamation (names)– Name formed by combining several previously existing names
• Initialized sign– Handshape sign for finger spelling in the sign language
• One-letter word– A single-letter word
• Syllabic abbreviation– Shortened form of a word or phrasePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets