An abbreviation is a shortening of a word or a phrase.(Note that abbreviations include shortened words like 'esp.' for 'especially' as well as shortened phrases.)

Many acronym lists you'll see are really lists of acronyms and initialisms or just lists of abbreviations. AT&T, BT, CBS, CNN, IBM, and NBC are initialisms that are not acronyms. Initialisms can be but are not always acronyms. initialismsĪbbreviations that use the first letter of each word in a phrase are sometimes referred to as initialisms. OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) Acronyms vs. Here are some examples of acronyms that use existing words:īASIC (Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) However, opinions differ on what constitutes an acronym: Merriam-Webster, for example, says that an acronym is just 'a word formed from the initial letters of a multi-word name.'įrequently, acronyms are formed that use existing words (and sometimes the acronym is invented first and the phrase name represented is designed to fit the acronym). So by these standards, for example, COBOL is an acronym because it's pronounced as a word but WHO (World Health Organization) is not an acronym because the letters in the abbreviation are pronounced individually. How is an acronym defined?Īccording to the strictest definition of an acronym, only abbreviations that are pronounced as words qualify. Furthermore, acronyms, along with related initialisms an abbreviations, are frequently used as industry terms, such as with manufacturing. Many organizations and corporate entities use acronyms as names. Webster's cites SNAFU and RADAR, two terms of World War Two vintage, as examples of acronyms that were created. The word may already exist or it can be a new word.

An acronym (pronounced AK-ruh-nihm, from Greek acro- in the sense of extreme or tip and onyma or name) is an abbreviation of several words in such a way that the abbreviation itself forms a pronounceable word.

Letter abbreviations for words