Information On Acronym and initialism

Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviation that are formed using the initial components in a phrase or name. These components may be individual letters (as in [[CEO]] or parts of words (as in [[Benelux]]. There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms (see [[#Nomenclature|nomenclature]], nor on written usage (see [[#Orthographic styling|orthographic styling]]. While popular in recent English, such abbreviations have #Early examples in English in English as well as #Non-English language As a type of word formation process, acronyms and initialisms are viewed as a subtype of blend ng.

Nomenclature

In 1943, David Davis of Bell Laboratories coined the term acronymas the name for a word created from the first letters of each word in a series of words (such as [[sonar]] created from so nd n vigation a d r nging).Fischer, Roswitha. (1998). Lexical change in present-day English: A corpus-based study of the motivation, institutionalization, and productivity of creative neologisms Tübingen: G. Narr. While the word [[abbreviation]]refers to any shortened form of a word or a phrase, some have used initialismor alphabetismto refer to an abbreviation formed simply from, and used simply as, a string of initials. Although the term acronymis widely used to describe any abbreviation formed from initial letters,Merriam-Webster, Inc. Merriam-Websters Dictionary of English Usage, 1994. ISBN 0-877-79132-5. pp. 21–2:
acronyms amp;nbsp;  A number of commentators (as Copperud 1970, Janis 1984, Howard 1984) believe that acronyms can be differentiated from other abbreviations in being pronounceable as words. Dictionaries, however, do not make this distinction because writers in general do not:
"The powder metallurgy industry has officially adopted the acronym P/M Parts" —Precision Metal Molding January 1966.
"Users of the term acronymmake no distinction between those pronounced as words … and those pronounced as a series of characters" —Jean Praninskas, Trade Name Creation 1968.
"It is not J.C.B.s fault that its name, let alone its acronym, is not a household word among European scholars" —Times Literary Supp.5 February 1970.
"… the confusion in the Pentagon about abbreviations and acronyms—words formed from the first letters of other words" —Bernard Weinraub., N.Y. Times 11 December 1978
Pyles & Algeo 1970 divide acronyms into "initialisms," which consists of initial letters pronounced with the letter names, and "word acronyms," which are pronounced as words. Initialism an older word than acronym seems to be too little known to the general public to serve as the customary term standing in contrast with acronymin a narrow sense.
 most dictionaries define acronymto mean "a word" in its original sense, "acronym". The Compact Oxford Dictionary of Current English "a word formed from the initial letters of other words (e.g. laser, Aids). — ORIGIN from Greek akron ‘end, tip’ + onoma ‘name’.""acronym". The Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary, Third Edition: "an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of each word in the name of something, pronounced as a word ""acronym". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition(2000), Houghton Mifflin Company: "A word formed from the initial letters of a name, such as WAC for Womens Army Corps, or by combining initial letters or parts of a series of words, such as radar for radio detecting and ranging.""acronym". The New Oxford American Dictionary 2nd ed. (2005), Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-517077-6. "a word formed from the initial letters of other words (e.g., radar, laser)."."acronym" http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?sacronym "Princeton University WordNet — A Lexical Database for the English Language (2001)"], accessed Nov 3, 2008: "acronym (a word formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name)""acronym". Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition(2006), HarperCollins: "a word made from the initial letters of other words, for example UNESCO for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization Greek akros outermost + onoma name] "."acronym" http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/acronyms-grammar.aspx Quickanddirtytips.com] Initialisms are made from the first letter (or letters) of a string of words, but cant be pronounced as words themselves. Acronyms are made from the first letter (or letters) of a string of words but are pronounced as if they were words themselves. Abbreviations are any shortened form of a word."Abbreviation" http://books.google.com/books?idbSxjt1irqh4C&lpgPP1&dqA%20Dictionary%20of%20%22Linguistics%20and%20Phonetics%22&pgPA1#vonepage&qA%20Dictionary%20of%20%22Linguistics%20and%20Phonetics%22&ffalse Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (David Crystal)] The everyday sense of this term has been refined in linguistics as part of the study of word-formation, distinguishing several ways in which words can be shortened. Initialisms or alphabetisms reflect the separate pronunciation of the initial letters of the constituent words (TV, COD) acronyms are pronounced as single words(NATO, laser); clipped forms or clippings are reductions of longer words, usually removing the end of the word (ad from advertisement), but sometimes the beginning (plane), or both beginning and ending together (flu); and blends combine parts of two words (sitcom, motel)."acronym" http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/abbreviations.htm Commnet.edu.] There is a difference between acronyms and abbreviations. An acronym is usually formed by taking the first initials of a phrase or compounded-word and using those initials to form a word that stands for something. Thus NATO, which we pronounce NATOH, is an acronym for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and LASER (which we pronounce "lazer"), is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. FBI, then, is not really an acronym for the Federal Bureau of Investigation; it is an abbreviation."acronym". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English(1991), Oxford University Press. p. 12: "a word, usually] pronounced as such, formed from the initial letters of other words (e.g. Ernie laser Nato"."acronym" http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/acronym "Websters Online Dictionary (2001)"], accessed Oct 7, 2008: Acronym "A word formed from the initial letters of a multi-word name.""acronym" http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?keyacronym*1+0&dictA "Cambridge Dictionary of American English"], accessed Oct 5, 2008: "a word created from the frst letters of each word in a series of words." Israel, Mark, http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxacrony.html Alt.English.Usage Fast-Access FAQ: "Usage Disputes: Acronym"], accessed May 2, 2006:
Strictly, an acronym is a string of initial letters pronounceable as a word, such as "NATO". Although WDEU devoted exclusively to disputed usage] says, "Dictionaries, however, do not make this distinction between acronyms and initialisms] because writers in general do not"; but two of the best known books on acronyms are titled Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary (19th ed., Gale, 1993) and Concise Dictionary of Acronyms and Initialisms (Facts on File, 1988).
 while some include a secondary indication of usage, attributing to acronymthe same meaning as that of initialism"acronym." http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/acronym Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, accessed May 2, 2006: "a word (as NATO, radar, or laser) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term; also: an abbreviation (as FBI) formed from initial letters: see initialism"David Crystal (1995). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-55985-5. p. 120: Its encyclopedic entry for Abbreviation contains an inset entitled "Types of Abbreviation," which lists Initialisms, followed by Acronyms, which he describes simply as "Initialisms pronounced as single words" but then adds "However, some linguists do not recognize a sharp distinction between acronyms and initialisms, but use the former term for both.""acronym". Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary(2003), Barnes & Noble. ISBN 0-7607-4975-2. "1. a word created from the first letter or letters of each word in a series of words or a phrase. 2. a set of initials representing a name, organization, or the like, with each letter pronounced separately, as FBIfor Federal Bureau of Investigation" According to the primary definition found in most dictionaries, acronyms examples include, [[NATO]](, [[scuba set|scuba]](, and [[radar]](, while examples of initialisms would include [[FBI]]( and [[HTML]](."acronym" Oxford English Dictionary Ed. J.A. Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. OED Online Oxford University Press. Accessed May 2, 2006. There is no agreement on what to call abbreviations whose pronunciation involves the combination of letter names and words, such as [[JPEG]]( and [[MS-DOS]](. There is also some disagreement as to what to call abbreviations that some speakers pronounce as letters and others pronounce as a word. For example, the terms [[Uniform Resource Locator|URL]]and [[Individual Retirement Account|IRA]]can be pronounced as individual letters: and respectively; or as a single word: and respectively. Such constructions, however—regardless of how they are pronounced—if formed from initials, may be identified as initialismswithout controversy. The term for the word-by-word reconstruction of an acronym or initialism is an expansion

Comparing a few examples of each type

*Pronounced as a word, containing only initial letters **AIDS acquired immune deficiency syndrome **ASBO Anti-Social Behaviour Order **NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization **Scuba set self-contained underwater breathing apparatus *Pronounced as a word, containing non-initial letters **Amphetamine alpha-methyl-phenethylamine **Gestapo Geheime Staatspolizei (secret state police) **Interpol International Criminal Police Organization **Radar radio detection and ranging *Pronounced as a word or names of letters, depending on speaker or context **FAQ (or F A Q frequently asked questions **Individual Retirement Account When used for Individual Retirement Account can be pronounced as letters (I R A or as a word **SAT (or S A T (previously) Scholastic Achievement (or Aptitude) Test(s), now claimed not to stand for anything.http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/about/sat/FAQ.html#quest14 CollegeBoard.com] **SQL (or S Q L Structured Query Language. *Pronounced as a combination of names of letters and a word **CD-ROM (C-D-IPA|rɒm]}}) Compact Disc read-only memory **IUPAC (I-U-IPA|pæk]}}) International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry **JPEG (J-IPA|pɛɡ]}}) Joint Photographic Experts Group **San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (S-F-IPA|moʊmə]}}) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art *Pronounced only as the names of letters **British Broadcasting Corporation British Broadcasting Corporation **DNA deoxyribonucleic acid **USA United States of America **GTL Gym, Tanning, Laundry **Irish Republican Army When used for the Irish Republican Army *Pronounced as the names of letters but with a shortcut **AAA: ***(triple A American Automobile Association abdominal aortic aneurysm anti-aircraft artillery ***(three As Amateur Athletic Association **Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (I triple E Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers **National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N double A C P National Association for the Advancement of Colored People **National Collegiate Athletic Association (N C double Aor N C two Aor {{lang|en|N C A A}} National Collegiate Athletic Association *Shortcut incorporated into name **3M (three M originally Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company **E3 (E three Electronic Entertainment Exposition **W3C (W three C World Wide Web Consortium **C4ISTAR (C four I star Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissancelt;/ref> *Multi-layered acronyms **NAC Breda (Dutch football club) NOAD ADVENDO Combinatie ("NOAD ADVENDO Combination"), formed by the 1912 merger of two clubs, NOAD (Nooit Opgeven Altijd Doorgaan "Never give up, always persevere") and ADVENDO (Aangenaam Door Vermaak En Nuttig Door Ontspanning "Pleasant for its entertainment and useful for its relaxation") from Breda **GAIM GTK+ AOL Instant Messenger, i.e.GIMP Tool Kit America OnLine Instant Messenger, i.e.GNU Image Manipulation Program Tool Kit America OnLine Instant Messenger, i.e.GNUs Not Unix Image Manipulation Program Tool Kit America OnLine Instant Messenger, i.e.... **PAC-3 PATRIOT Advanced Capability 3 i.e.,Phased Array Tracking RADAR Intercept on Target i.e.,RAdio Detection And Ranging ** VHDL [[VHSIC]] hardware description language where VHSIC stands for very-high-speed integrated circuit *Recursive acronyms in which the abbreviation refers to itself **GNU GNUs not Unix! ** LAME LAME Aint an [[MP3]] Encoder **PHP PHP hypertext pre-processor(formerly personal home page **These may go through multiple layers before the self-reference is found: ***GNU Hurd HIRD of Unix-replacing daemons where "HIRD" stands for "HURD of interfaces representing depth" *Pseudo-acronym consisting of a sequence of characters which, when pronounced as intended, invoke other longer words with less typing (see also Internet slang **CQ (call) "Seek you", a code used by radio operators **IOU (debt) "I owe you" (true acronym would be IOY) **K9 "Canine", used to designate police units utilizing dogs **Q8 "Kuwait" *Initialisms whose last abbreviated word is often redundantly included anyway **Automated teller machine machine: Automated Teller Machinemachine **Compact disc disc: Compact Discdisc **Human immunodeficiency virus virus: Human Immunodeficiency Virusvirus **Personal identification number number: Personal Identification Numbernumber

Historical and current use

Acronymy, like retronym , is a linguistic process that has existed throughout history but for which there was little to no Metalanguage conscious attention, or Linguistics until relatively recent times. Like retronymy, it became much more common in the 20th century than it had formerly been. Ancient examples of acronymy (regardless of whether there was metalanguage at the time to describe it) include the following: * Initialisms were used in Rome before the Christian era. For example, the official name for the Roman Empire, and the Republic before it, was abbreviated as [[SPQR]](Senatus Populusque Romanus. * The early Christianity in Rome used the image of a fish as a symbol for Jesus in part because of an acronym—fishin Greek is ΙΧΘΥΣ([[ichthys]], which was said to stand for (Iesous CHristos THeou (h) Uios Soter Jesus Christ, Gods Son, Savior). Evidence of this interpretation dates from the 2nd and 3rd centuries and is preserved in the catacombs of Rome. And for centuries, the Church has used the inscription [[INRI]]over the crucifix, which stands for the Latin Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum("Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews"). * The Hebrew language has a long history of formation of acronyms pronounced as words, stretching back many centuries. The Hebrew Bible ("Old Testament") is known as "Tanakh", an acronym composed from the Hebrew initial letters of its three major sections: Torah (five books of Moses), Neviim (prophets), and Ktuvim (writings). Many rabbinical figures from the Middle Ages onward are referred to in rabbinical literature by their pronounced acronyms, such as Rambam (aka Maimonides, from the initial letters of his full Hebrew name (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) and Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzkhaki). During the mid to late 19th century, an initialism-disseminating trend spread through the American and European business communities: abbreviating corporation names in places where space was limited for writing—such as on the sides of railroad car (e.g., Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad → RF&P); on the sides of barrels and crates; and on ticker tape and in the small-print newspaper stock listings that got their data from it (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). The widespread, frequent use of acronyms and initialisms across the whole range of Register (sociolinguistics) is a relatively new linguistic phenomenon in most languages, becoming increasingly evident since the mid-20th century. As literacy rates rose, and as advances in science and technology brought with them a constant stream of new (and sometimes more complex) terms and concepts, the practice of abbreviating terms became increasingly convenient. The [[Oxford English Dictionary]](OED records the first printed use of the word initialismas occurring in 1899, but it did not come into general use until 1965, well after acronymhad become common. Around 1943, the term acronymwas coined to recognize abbreviations and contractions of phrases pronounced as words.B. Davenport American Notes and Queries(February 1943) vol 2 page 167 "Your correspondent who asks about words made up of the initial letters or syllables of other words may be interested in knowing that I have seen such words called by the name acronym which is useful and clear to anyone who knows a little Greek." (It was formed from the Greek language words ἄκρος, akros, "topmost, extreme" and ὄνομα, onoma, "name.") For example, the army offense of being absent without official leavewas abbreviated to "A.W.O.L. in reports, but when pronounced as a word (awol), it became an acronym.S. V. Baum (1962) American SpeechVol. 37 No. 1, The Acronym, Pure and Impure While initial letters are commonly used to form an acronym, the original definition was a word made from the initial letters or syllables of other wordsAmerican Speech(1943) Vol. 18, No. 2, page 142 for example UNIVAC I from UNIVersal Automatic Computer.American Speech(1950) Vol. 25 No. 2 page 147 In English, acronyms pronounced as wordsmay be a 20th-century phenomenon. Linguist David Wilton in Word 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 is colinderiesor colinda an acronym for the Colonial and Indian Exposition held in London in that year."http://books.google.com/books?idcp0r3aa8EM8C&dqWord+Myths:+Debunking+Linguistic+Urban+Legends&pgPP1&otsW-MkF4HoJH&sigqXdp23kdeDPL7QbhkCpRMh59T-o&prevhttp://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3DWord%2BMyths%253A%2BDebunking%2BLinguistic%2BUrban%2BLegends%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26aq%3Dt%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26client%3Dfirefox-a&saX&oiprint&cttitle#PPA79,M1 Google Books]http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/acronyms.asp Urban Legends Reference Pages: Language (Acronyms)]

Early examples in English

* The use of Latin and Neo-Latin terms in vernacular has been pan-European and predates modern English. Some examples of initialisms in this class are: **[[12-hour clock|A.M.]](from Latin ante meridiem "before noon") and [[12-hour clock|P.M.]](from Latin post meridiem "after noon") **A.D.(from Latin [[Anno Domini]] "in the year of our Lord") (whose complement in English, B.C.Before Christ lt;nowiki>], is English-sourced) *[[Okay|O.K.]] a term of disputed origin, dating back at least to the early 19th century, now used around the world *n.g. for "no good," from 1838, nowadays commonly expanded to "nbg" (no bloody good); see also wikt:NFG *The etymology of the word alphabetitself comes to Middle English from the Late Latin Alphabetum which in turn derives from the Ancient Greek Alphabetos from [[alpha (letter)|alpha]]and [[beta (letter)|beta]],the first two letters of the Greek alphabet http://www.britannica.com/dictionary?bookDictionary&vaalphabet&queryalphabet/ Encyclopædia Britannica Online - Merriam-Websters Online Dictionary] Colloquially, learning the alphabet is called learning ones ABCs

Current use

Acronyms and initialisms are used most often to abbreviate names of organizations and long or frequently referenced terms. The Military and government agencies frequently employ initialisms (and occasionally, acronyms); some well-known examples from the United States are among the "alphabet agencies created by Franklin D. Roosevelt under the New Deal Business and industry also are prolific coiners of acronyms and initialisms. The rapid advance of science and technology in recent centuries seems to be an underlying force driving the usage, as new inventions and concepts with multiword names create a demand for shorter, more manageable names. One representative example, from the U.S. Navy, is COMCRUDESPAC, which stands for commander, cruisers destroyers Pacific its also seen as "ComCruDesPac". "YABA-compatible" (where YABA stands for "yet another bloody acronym") is used to mean that a terms acronym can be pronounced but is not an offensive word (e.g., "When choosing a new name, be sure it is "YABA-compatible").K. D. Nilsen & A. P. Nilsen (1995) The English JournalVol. 84, No. 6.,"Literary Metaphors and Other Linguistic Innovations in Computer Language" The use of initialisms has been further popularized with the emergence of Short Message Systems (SMS). To fit messages into the 160-Character limit of SMS, initialisms such as "GF" (girl friend), "LOL" (laughing out loud), and "DL" (download) have been popularized into the mainstream.Crystal, David. Txtng:_the_Gr8_Db8 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-19-954490-5 Although Linguistic prescription disdain for such neologism is fashionable, and can be useful when the goal is protecting message receivers from wikt:cryptic#Adjective it is scientifically groundless when couched as preserving the "purity" or "legitimacy" of language; this neologism is merely the latest instance of a perennial linguistic principle—the same one that in the 19th century prompted the aforementioned abbreviation of corporation names in places where space for writing was limited (e.g., ticker tape, newspaper column inch s).

Jargon

Acronyms and initialisms often occur in jargon An initialism may have different meanings in different areas of industry, writing, and scholarship. The general reason for this is convenience and succinctness for specialists, although it has led some to obfuscate the meaning either intentionally, to deter those without such domain-specific knowledge, or unintentionally, by creating an initialism that already existed. The medical literature has been struggling to control the proliferation of acronyms as their use has evolved from aiding communication to hindering it. This has become such a problem that it is even evaluated at the level of medical academies such as the American Academy of Dermatology. lt;/ref>

Acronyms as legendary etymology

It is not uncommon for acronyms to be cited in a kind of false etymology called a folk etymology for a word. Such etymologies persist in popular culture but have no factual basis in historical linguistics and are examples of language-related urban legend . For example, [[police officer|cop]]is commonly cited as being supposedly derived from "constable on patrol,"See http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/cop.asp Snopes article]. [[posh]]from "Backronym#False_acronyms , published in the US as lt;/ref> and [[golf]]from "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden".http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/golf.asp See article at Snopes.] Taboo word in particular commonly have such false etymologies: [[shit]]from "ship/store high in transit"http://www.etymonline.com/baloney.php Etymonline.com] or "special high-intensity training" and [[fuck]]from "for unlawful carnal knowledge", or "fornication under consent of the king".

Orthographic styling

Punctuation

Showing the ellipsis of letters

Traditionally, in English, abbreviations have been written with a full stop in place of the deleted part to show the ellipsis of letters, although the Colon (punctuation) and apostrophe have also had this role. In the case of most acronyms and initialisms, each letter is an abbreviation of a separate word and, in theory, should get its own termination mark. Such punctuation is diminishing with the belief that the presence of all-capital letters is sufficient to indicate that the word is an abbreviation.

Ellipsis-is-understood style

Some influential [[style guide]]s, such as that of the [[BBC]], no longer require punctuation to show ellipsis; some even proscribe it. Larry Trask, American author of ''The [[Penguin Books|Penguin]] Guide to Punctuation'', states categorically that, in [[British English]], "this tiresome and unnecessary practice is now obsolete",[http://www.informatics.susx.ac.uk/doc/punctuation/node28.html Abbreviations] though some other sources are not so absolute in their pronouncements.

Pronunciation-dependent style

Nevertheless, some influential [[style guide]]s, many of them [[American English|American]], still require periods in certain instances. For example, ''[[The New York Times]]''’ guide recommends following each segment with a period when the letters are pronounced individually, as in ''[[KGB|K.G.B.]]'', but not when pronounced as a word, as in ''[[NATO]]''."NY Times"> lt;/ref> 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 generally not used, although they may be common in informal usage. ''TV'', for example, may stand for a ''single'' word (''television'' or ''transvestite'', for instance), and is generally spelled without punctuation (except in the plural). Although ''PS'' stands for the single word ''postscript'' (or the Latin ''postscriptum''), it is often spelled with periods (''P.S.''). The [[Slash (punctuation)|slash]] ('/', a.k.a. virgule) is sometimes used to show the ellipsis of letters, for instance in the initialisms ''N/A'' (''not applicable, not available'') and ''w/o'' (''without''). Inconveniently long words used frequently in related contexts can be represented according to their letter count. ''i18n'', for example, 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''. ''Localization'' can be abbreviated ''l10n'', ''[[multilingualization]]'' ''m17n'', and ''[[accessibility]]'' ''a11y''. In addition to the use of a specific number replacing that amount of letters, the more general "x" can be used to replace an unspecified number of letters (e.g. Crxn for ''crystallization'').

Representing plurals and possessives

The traditional style of pluralizing single letters with the addition of ''’s'' (for example, ''B'''’'''s come after A'''’'''s'') was extended to some of the earliest initialisms, which tended to be written with periods to indicate the omission of letters; some writers still pluralize initialisms in this way. Some style guides continue to require such apostrophes—perhaps partly to make it clear that the lower case ''s'' is only for pluralization and would not appear in the singular form of the word, for some acronyms and abbreviations do include lowercase letters. However, it has become common among many writers to [[inflection|inflect]] initialisms as ordinary words, using simple ''s'', without an apostrophe, for the plural. In this case, ''compact discs'' becomes ''CDs''. The logic here is that the apostrophe should be restricted to possessives: for example, ''the '''CD’s''' label'' (the label of the compact disc).[http://pcroot.cern.ch/TaligentDocs/TaligentOnline/DocumentRoot/1.0/Docs/books/SG/SG_5.html Taligent Style Guide - A] Multiple options arise when initialisms are spelled with periods and are pluralized: for example, whether ''compact discs'' may become ''C.D.’s'', ''C.D.s'', ''CD’s'', or ''CDs''. 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). This is yet another reason to use apostrophes only for possessives and not for plurals. In some instances, however, an apostrophe may increase clarity: for example, if the final letter of an abbreviation is ''S'', as in ''SOS’s'', or when pluralizing an abbreviation that has periods.[http://www.writersblock.ca/tips/monthtip/tipmar96.htm Writer's Block - Writing Tips - Plural and Possessive Abbreviations][http://www.editfast.com/english/grammar/apostrophes/apostrophe_plurals.htm EditFast Grammar Resource: Apostrophes: Forming Plurals] (In ''The New York Times'', the plural possessive of ''G.I.'', which the newspaper prints with periods in reference to [[United States Army]] soldiers, is ''G.I.’s'', with no apostrophe after the ''s''.) A particularly rich source of options arises when the plural of an initialism 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.''[http://nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an41354070 Libraries Australia - T.H. McWilliam, Charles Kingsford Smith, Prime Minister of New Zealand Joseph Coates, Charles Ulm and H.A. Litchfield in front row with Members of Parliament on steps of Parliament House, Wellington, New Zealand, September 1928 [picture] / Crown Studios][http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-HydJour-t1-body-d3.html Chapter III. — The House is in Session | NZETC] (or similar[http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/denniscj/backblockother/underpartyplan.html ''Under the party plan'' by C.J. Dennis (1876–1938)]), as famously by a former Australian Prime Minister.{{Citation needed|dateDecember 2008}} This usage is less common than forms with ''s'' at the end, such as ''MPs'', and may appear dated or pedantic. The argument that initialisms should have no different plural form (for example, "If ''D'' can stand for ''disc'', it can also stand for ''disc'''s'''''") is generally disregarded because of the practicality in distinguishing singulars and plurals. This is not the case, however, when the abbreviation is understood to describe a plural noun already: for example, ''U.S.'' is short for ''United State'''s''''', but not ''United State''. In this case, the options for making a possessive form of an abbreviation that is already in its plural form without a final ''s'' may seem awkward: for example, ''U.S.’'', ''U.S.’s'', etc. In such instances, possessive abbreviations are often foregone in favor of simple [[adjective|attributive]] usage (for example, ''the '''U.S.''' economy'') or expanding the abbreviation to its full form and ''then'' making the possessive (for example, ''the '''United States’''' economy''). On the other hand, in speech, the pronunciation ''United States’s'' sometimes is used. Abbreviations that come from single, rather than multiple, words—such as ''TV'' (''television'')—are pluralized without apostrophes: the apostrophe should be reserved for the possessive (''TV'''s'''''). {{anchor|pp|PP|pP|Pp|page|pages}}In some languages, the convention of doubling the letters in the initialism is used to indicate plural words: for example, the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''EE.UU.'', for ''Estados Unidos'' (''United States''). This old convention is still followed for a limited number of English abbreviations, such as ''SS.'' for Saints, ''pp.'' for pages (although this is actually derived from the Latin abbreviation for ''paginae''{{Citation needed|date

ebruary 2009}}) or MSSfor manuscripts. Acronyms that are now always rendered in the lower case are pluralized as regular English nouns: for example, lasers When an initialism is part of a function (computing) that is conventionally written in lower case, it is common to use an apostrophe to pluralize or otherwise conjugate the token. This practice results in such sentences like "Be sure to remove extraneous [[Dynamic-link library|.dll]]’s (more than one .dll). However despite the pervasiveness of this practice, it is generally held to be technically incorrect; the preferred method being to simply append an s without the apostrophe.http://computerdictionary.tsf.org.za/project/#N100CD Computer Dictionary Project] In computer speech community it is common to use the name of a computer program, format, or function, acronym or not, as a verb. In such verbification of abbreviations, there is confusion about how to conjugate: for example, if the verb IM(pronounced as separate letters) means to send (someone) an instant message the past tense may be rendered IM’ed, IMed , IM’d, or IMd —and the third-person singular present indicative may be IM’s or IMs .

Case

All-caps style

The most common capitalization scheme seen with acronyms and initialisms is all-uppercase (All caps , except for those few that have linguistically taken on an identity as regular words, with the acronymous etymology of the words fading into the background of common knowledge, such as has occurred with the words [[scuba set|scuba]] [[laser]] and [[radar]]— these are known as anacronyms(a portmanteau with anachronism .

Small-caps variant

[[Small caps]] are sometimes used to make the run of capital letters seem less jarring to the reader. For example, the style of some American publications, including the ''[[Atlantic Monthly]]'' and ''[[USA Today]]'', is to use small caps for acronyms and initialisms longer than three letters{{Citation needed|dateAugust 2007}}; thus "[[U.S.]]" and "[[Franklin D. Roosevelt|FDR]]" in normal caps, but "{{sc||NATO}}" in small caps. The initialisms "[[Anno Domini|{{sc||AD}}]]" and "[[Before Christ|{{sc||BC}}]]" are often smallcapped as well, as in: "From 4004 {{sc|wrapno||BC}} to {{sc|wrap

o||AD}} 525."

Pronunciation-dependent style

At the Copy editing end of the publishing industry, where the aforementioned distinction between acronyms (pronounced as a word) and initialisms (pronounced as a series of letters) is usually maintained, some publishers choose to use cap/lowercase (c/lc) styling for acronyms, reserving all-caps styling for initialisms. Thus Natoand Aids(c/lc), but USAand FBI(caps). For example, this is the style used in [[The Guardian]]lt;/ref> and BBC News typically edits to this style. The logic of this style is that the pronunciation is reflected graphically by the capitalization scheme. Some style manuals also base the letters Letter case on their number. The New York Times for example, keeps NATOin all capitals (while several guides in the British press may render it Nato, but uses lower case in [[United Nations Childrens Fund|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 typically abbreviations exclude the initials of short function word (such as "and", "or", "of", or "to"), they are sometimes included in acronyms to make them pronounceable. Sometimes the letters representing these words are written in lower case, such as in the cases of TfL (Transport for London and LotR (Lord of the Rings . This usually occurs when the acronym represents a multi-word proper noun. Numbers (both Cardinal number and Ordinal number in names are often represented by numerical digit rather than initial letters: as in 4GL(Fourth generation language or G77(Group of 77 . Large numbers may use SI prefix#Use outside SI as with [[Y2K]]for "Year 2000" (sometimes written Y2k because the SI symbol for 1000 is k- not K which stands for [[kelvin]]. Exceptions using initials for numbers include [[three letter acronym|TLA]](three-letter acronym/abbreviation) and GoF(Gang of Four (software) . Abbreviations using numbers for other purposes include repetitions, such as [[W3C]]("World Wide Web Consortium"); pronunciation, such as [[Business-to-business|B2B]]("business to business"); and numeronym , such as i18n("internationalization"; 18represents the 18 letters between the initial iand the final n.

Changes to (or word play on) the expanded meaning

Pseudo-acronyms

In some cases, an acronym or initialism has been redefined as a nonacronymous name, creating a pseudo-acronym For example, the letters making up the name of the SAT college entrance test (pronounced as letters) college entrance test no longer officially stand for anything. This trend has been common with many companies hoping to retain their brand recognition while simultaneously moving away from what they saw as an outdated image: American Telephone and Telegraph became AT&T (its parent/child, SBC, followed suit prior to its acquisition of AT&T and after its acquisition of a number of the other Baby Bells changing from Southwestern Bell Corporation), Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC to de-emphasize the role of frying in the preparation of its signature dishes This change was also applied to other languages, with Poulet Frit Kentuckybecoming PFKin French Canada., BP became BP to emphasize that it was no longer only an oil company (captured by its motto "beyond petroleum"), Silicon Graphics, Incorporated became SGI to emphasize that it was no longer only a computer graphics company. DVD now has no official meaning: its advocates could not agree on whether the initials stood for "Digital Video Disc" or "Digital Versatile Disc," and now both terms are used. Pseudo-acronyms may have advantages in international markets: for example, some national affiliate of International Business Machines are legally incorporated as "IBM" (or, for example, "IBM Canada") to avoid translating the full name into local languages. Similarly, "UBS AG is the name of the merged Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corporation and "HSBC has replaced "The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation."

Recursive acronyms and RAS syndrome

Rebranding can lead to RAS syndrome as when Trustee Savings Bank became TSB Bank, or when Railway Express Agency became REA Express. A few high-tech companies have taken the redundant acronym to the extreme: for example, ISM Information Systems Management Corp. and SHL Systemhouse Ltd. An example in entertainment is the television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation where the redundancy was likely designed to educate new viewers as to what "CSI" stood for. The same stood for when the Royal Bank of Canada s Canadian operations rebranded to RBC Royal Bank, or when Bank of Montreal rebranded their retail banking subsidiary BMO Bank of Montreal. Another common example is [[RAM]] memory which is redundant because RAM(random-access memory includes the initial of the word memory PINstands for personal identification number obviating the second word in PIN number Other examples include [[Automated teller machine|ATM]] machine(automated teller machine machine, [[EAB bank]](European American Bank bank, [[DC comics]](detective comics comics, [[HIV]] virus(human immunodeficiency virus virus, Microsofts NT Technology (New Technology Technology and the formerly redundant [[SAT]] test(Scholastic Achievement/Aptitude/Assessment Test test now simply SAT Reasoning Test. Spike (TV network) (The Nashville/National Network) also renamed itself The New TNNfor a brief interlude.

Simple redefining

Sometimes, the initials continue to stand for an expanded meaning, but the original meaning is simply replaced. Some examples: *Commemorative Air Force was Confederate Air Force a ragtag collection of vintage warplanes that started in Odessa, Texas. It was changed to Commemorative Air Force to better reflect its mission and avoid offense. *DVD was originally an initialism of the unofficial term digital video disk but is now stated by the DVD Forum as standing for Digital Versatile Disc *GAO changed the full form of its name from General Accounting Officeto Government Accountability Office *The OCLC changed the full form of its name from Ohio College Library Centerto Online Computer Library Center *[[RAID]]used to mean Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives, but is now commonly interpreted as Redundant Array of Independent Drives. *SADD changed the full form of its name from Students Against Driving Drunkto Students Against Destructive Decisions *[[WWF (disambiguation)|WWF]]originally stood for World Wildlife Fund but now stands for Worldwide Fund for Nature (although the former name is still used in the US) *[[YM]]originally stood for Young Miss and later Young & Modern but now stands for simply Your Magazine

Backronyms

A backronym(or bacronym is a phrase that is constructed "after the fact" from a previously existing word. For example, the novelist and critic Anthony Burgess once proposed that the word "book" ought to stand for "B x O O ganised K owledge."99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939(New York: Summit Books, 1984). A classic real-world example of this in action was the name of the predecessor to the Apple Macintosh, The Apple Lisa which was said to refer to "Local Integrated Software Architecture", but Steve Jobs daughter, born 1978, was named Lisa.

Contrived acronyms

A contrived acronymis one 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 are [[USA PATRIOT Act|USA PATRIOT]] Can Spam Act [[CAPTCHA]]and [[AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power|ACT UP]] The clothing company French Connection (clothing) began referring to itself as fcuk standing for "French Connection United Kingdom." The company then created t-shirts and several advertising campaigns that exploit the acronyms similarity to the taboo word "fuck . See the list of fictional espionage organizations for more examples of contrived acronyms. The US Department of Defenses Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA is known for developing contrived acronyms to name projects, including RESURRECT NIRVANAand DUDE In July of 2010, Wired Magazine reported that DARPA announced programs to “..transform biology from a descriptive to a predictive field of science” named BATMANand ROBINfor Biochronicity and Temporal Mechanisms Arising in Natureand Robustness of Biologically-Inspired Networkslt;/REF>, a reference to the Batman and Robin (comics) Comic-book superheroes Some acronyms are chosen deliberately to avoid a name considered undesirable: for example, [[Verliebt in Berlin]](ViB), a German telenovela was first intended to be Alles nur aus Liebe (All for Love) but was changed to avoid the resultant acronym ANAL Similarly, the Computer Literacy and Internet Technology qualification is known as CLaIT rather than [[clitoris|CLIT]]In Canada, the Canadian Alliance was quickly renamed to the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance when its opponents pointed out that its initials spelled CCRAP (see crap . (The satirical magazine [[Frank (magazine)|Frank]]had proposed alternatives to CCRAP, namely SSHIT and Nazi Party ) 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 (wikt:git . Team in Training is known as TNT and not TIT. Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences is still known as TITS. The war on terror was originally referred to in early Bush speeches as "The War Against Terror" (TWAT), but this was swiftly changed. Contrived acronyms differ from backronym in that they were originally conceived with the artificial expanded meaning, while backronyms are later invented expansions.

Macronyms / Nested Acronyms

A macronym is an acronym in which one or more of its constituent letters stand for acronyms themselves. Such acronyms are also called nested acronyms. A special type of macronym has letters which refer back to itself when expanded; these are called recursive acronyms One of the earliest examples appears in The Hacker's Dictionary as Mung (computer term) which stands for "MUNG Until No Good" Some examples of recursive acronyms are: * GNU stands for "GNUs Not Unix" * LAME stands for "LAME Aint an MP3 Encoder" * PHP stands for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor" * Wine (software) stands for "WINE Is Not an Emulator" Other macronyms have letters which refer to other acronyms; they include the following: * IBM POWER stands for "Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC", in which (RISC stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computing) * VHDL stands for "VHSIC Hardware Description Language", in which (VHSIC stands for Very High Speed Integrated Circuit.) (This example is not a recursive acronym) * XSD stands for "XML Schema Definition", in which (XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language.) * SECS stands for "SEMI equipment communication standard" in which SEMI stands for "Semiconductor equipment manufacturing industries". Some macronyms can be "multiply nested" acronyms, ones in which the second order acronym itself points to another one further down in the hierarchy. In an informal competition run by the magazine New Scientist one specimen (fully documented) was discovered which had some claim to being the most deeply nested of all. RARS is the "Regional ATVOS etransmission Service", ATVOS is Advanced TOVS TOVS is TIROS operational vertical sounder and TIROS is Television infrared observational satellite. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727681.100-very-deep-multiply-nested-acronyms.html | http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727681.100-very-deep-multiply-nested-acronyms.html]

Non-English language

Asian languages

In English language discussion of languages with syllabary or logographic writing systems (such as Chinese language Japanese language and Korean language , acronymdescribes short forms that take selected characters from a multi-character word. For example, in Chinese, the word "大學"/"大学" ("university in traditional/simplified Chinese), when used with the name of the university, is usually abbreviated as "大". So "北京大学" (Beijing University "北京" "Beijing") is commonly abbreviated to just "北大". In this case, the first characters "北" and "大" from "北京" and "大学" are taken to compose the short form. In some cases, however, other characters than the first can be selected. For example, the local short form of "香港大學" (Hong Kong University "香港" "Hong Kong") is "港大" rather than "香大". There are also cases where some longer phrases are abbreviated drastically. For instance, the word "全国人民代表大会" (National People's Congress can be broken into four parts: "全国" "the whole nation", "人民" "people", "代表" "representatives", "大会" "conference". Yet, in its short form "人大", only the first characters from the second and the fourth parts are selected; the first part ("全国") and the third part ("代表") are simply ignored. In describing such abbreviations, the term initialismis inapplicable. There is also a widespread use of acronyms and initialisms in Indonesia in every aspect of social life. For example, the Golkar political party stands for Partai Gol ngan Kar a, Monas stands for "Mo umen Nas onal" (National Monument), the Angkotpublic transport stands for "Ang utan Kot ", warnetstands for "war ng internet or internet cafe, and many others.

German

Mid-20th century German showed a tendency toward acronym-contractions of the Gestapo (for Geheime Staatspolizei) type: other examples are hiwi (volunteer) (for Hilfswilliger, non-German volunteer in the German Army); Vokuhila (for "vorne kurz, hinten lang," "short in the front, long in the back," i.e. a Mullet (haircut) Volkspolizei (for Volkspolizist, member of police force in the German Democratic Republic ; Mufuti or MuFuTi (Multifunktionstisch - multi functional table in the GDR). Mockingly, the people call this tendency AbKüFi (Abkürzfimmel – strange habit of abbreviating).

Hebrew

It is common to take more than just one initial letter from each of the words composing the acronym; regardless of this, the abbreviation sign gershayim 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: ארה״ב (for ארצות הברית, the United States ; ברה״מ (for ברית המועצות, the Soviet Union ; ראשל״צ (for ראשון לציון, Rishon LeZion ; ביה״ס (for בית הספר, the school). An example that takes only the initial letters from its component words is צה״ל ("Tzahal" for Israel Defense Forces . In inflected forms the abbreviation sign gershayim remains 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").

Swahili

In Swahili, acronyms are common for naming organizations such as TUKI, which stands for "Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili" (the institute for Swahili research). Multiple initial letters (often the initial syllable of words) are often drawn together.

Declension

In languages where nouns are declension various methods are used. An example is Finnish, where a colon is used to separate inflection from the letters: *An acronym is pronounced as a word: Nato — Natoon "into Nato" *An initialism is pronounced as letters: EU — EU:hun "into EU" *An initialism is interpreted as words: EU — EU:iin "into EU" The process above is similar to how, in English, hyphens are used for clarity when prefixes are added to acronyms. Thus prewar policy(hyphen unneeded) but pre-NATO policy(rather than preNATO.

Lenition

In languages such as Scottish Gaelic and Irish language where lenition (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 case "h" is added after the initial consonant; for example, [[BBC Scotland]]in the genitive case would be written as BhBC Alba with the acronym pronounced "VBC". Similarly, the Gaelic acronym for "television" (gd: telebhisean is TBh pronounced "TV", as in English.

Extremes

*The longest acronym, according to the 1965 edition of Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary is ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC, a United States Navy term that stands for "Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command." Another term COMNAVSEACOMBATSYSENGSTA, which stands for "Commander, Naval Sea Systems Combat Engineering Station" is longer but the word "Combat" is not shortened. *The worlds longest initialism, according to the [[Guinness Book of World Records]]is NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT (Нииомтплабопармбетжелбетрабсбомонимонконотдтехстромонт). The 56-letter initialism (54 in Cyrillic is from the Concise Dictionary of Soviet Terminologyand means "The laboratory for shuttering, reinforcement, concrete and ferroconcrete operations for composite-monolithic and monolithic constructions of the Department of the Technology of Building-assembly operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for building mechanization and technical aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics "

See also

* Acronyms in healthcare * Acronyms in the Philippines * Acrostic * Amalgamation (names) * Backronym * Internet slang * List of abbreviations * List of acronyms and initialisms * List of fictional espionage organizations * List of Japanese Latin alphabetic abbreviations * -onym * Portmanteau * Pseudo-acronym * RAS syndrome (Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome) * Recursive acronym * Syllabic abbreviation * Three letter acronym

References

External links

* http://www.abbreviations.com Abbreviations.com] - a human edited database of acronyms and abbreviations * http://www.acronymfinder.com Acronym Finder] - a human edited database of acronyms and abbreviations (over 750,000 entries) * http://www.acronymgeek.com Acronym Geek] - database of acronyms and initialisms * http://acronymcreator.net AcronymCreator.net] - a language tool to make new meaningful acronyms and abbreviations * http://www.all-acronyms.com/ All Acronyms] - collection of acronyms and abbreviations (more than 600,000 definitions) * http://www.unfortunateacronyms.com/ Acronyms Sometimes Suck] is a humor blog about unfortunate acronyms and initialisms * http://www.VB.com/fame.htm VB.com] - List of famous Companies owning their Acronym as an Internet address Category:Abbreviations Category:Acronyms Category:Initialisms Category:Types of words af:Akroniem als:Akronym ar:أكرنيم ar:إنسيالسم be-x-old:Акронім bg:Акроним ca:Acrònim cs:Akronym da:Akronym de:Akronym et:Akronüüm el:Αρκτικόλεξο es:Sigla eo:Akronimo eu:Akronimo fa:سرنام gl:Acrónimo ko:두문자어 hi:परिवर्णी शब्द hr:Akronim io:Akronimo id:Akronim is:Upphafsstafaheiti it:Acronimo he:ראשי תיבות ka:აკრონიმია lv:Akronīms lb:Akronym hu:Betűszó mk:Акроним ms:Akronim dan parapisme nl:Acroniem ja:頭字語 no:Akronym nn:Akronym oc:Acronim nds:Akronym pl:Skrótowiec pt:Acrónimo ro:Acronim ru:Акроним sc:Acrònimu scn:Acrònimu simple:Acronym sk:Akronym sl:Akronim fi:Akronyymi ja kirjainlyhenne sv:Akronym th:อักษรย่อ uk:Акронім ur:ترخیمہ vi:Từ viết tắt từ chữ đầu yi:ראשי תיבות zh:首字母縮略字

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