![Schriftprobe Latein 15 Jh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Schriftprobe_Latein_15_Jh.jpg)
An abbreviation (from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbreviation'' can itself be represented by the abbreviation ''abbr.'', ''abbrv.'', or ''abbrev.''; ''NPO'', for
nil (or nothing) per (by) os (mouth) is an abbreviated medical instruction. It may also consist of initials only, a mixture of initials and words, or words or letters representing words in another language (for example,
e.g.
Eg or EG may refer to:
In arts and media
* ''E.G.'' (EP), an EP by Goodshirt
* ''EG'' (magazine), a journal dedicated to chess endgame studies
* Eg White (born 1966), a British musician, songwriter and producer
* E.G. Records, a music record la ...
,
i.e. or
RSVP
RSVP is an initialism derived from the French phrase ''Répondez s'il vous plaît'', literally meaning "Respond, if you please", or just "Please respond", to require confirmation of an invitation. The initialism "RSVP" is no longer used much in ...
). Some types of abbreviations are
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
s (some pronounceable, some
initialism
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
s) or grammatical
contractions or
crasis
Crasis (; from the Greek , "mixing", "blending"); cf. , "I mix" ''wine with water''; '' kratēr'' "mixing-bowl" is related. is a type of contraction in which two vowels or diphthongs merge into one new vowel or diphthong, making one word out of t ...
.
An abbreviation is a shortening by any of these or other methods.
Different types of abbreviation
Acronyms, initialisms, contractions and crasis share some
semantic
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...
and
phonetic
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
functions, and all four are connected by the term "abbreviation" in loose parlance.
A initialism is an abbreviation pronounced by spelling out each letter, i.e.
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
(
),
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
(
),
IBM (
),
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
(
)
A contraction is a reduction in the length of a word or phrase made by omitting certain of its letters or
syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...
s. Consequently, contractions are a
subset
In mathematics, Set (mathematics), set ''A'' is a subset of a set ''B'' if all Element (mathematics), elements of ''A'' are also elements of ''B''; ''B'' is then a superset of ''A''. It is possible for ''A'' and ''B'' to be equal; if they are ...
of abbreviations. Often, but not always, the contraction includes the first and last letters or elements. Examples of contractions are "li'l" (for "little"), "I'm" (for "I am"), and "he'd've" (for "he would have").
History
Abbreviations have a long history. They were created to avoid spelling out whole words. This might be done to save time and space (given that many inscriptions were carved in stone) and also to provide secrecy. In both
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
and
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
the reduction of words to single letters was common. In Roman inscriptions, "Words were commonly abbreviated by using the initial letter or letters of words, and most inscriptions have at least one abbreviation". However, "some could have more than one meaning, depending on their context. (For example, can be an abbreviation for many words, such as , , , , , , and .)" Many frequent abbreviations consisted of more than one letter: for example COS for ''consul'' and COSS for its
nominative
In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
etc. plural ''consules''.
Abbreviations were frequently used in English from its earliest days. Manuscripts of copies of the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
poem ''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...
'' used many abbreviations, for example the
Tironian et
Tironian notes ( la, notae Tironianae, links=no) are a set of thousands of signs that were formerly used in a system of shorthand (Tironian shorthand) dating from the 1st century BCE and named after Tiro, a personal secretary to Marcus Tullius Ci ...
() or for ''and'', and for ''since'', so that "not much space is wasted". The standardisation of English in the 15th through 17th centuries included a growth in the use of such abbreviations.
At first, abbreviations were sometimes represented with various suspension signs, not only periods. For example, sequences like ‹er› were replaced with ‹ɔ›, as in ‹mastɔ› for ''master'' and ‹exacɔbate› for ''exacerbate''. While this may seem trivial, it was symptomatic of an attempt by people manually reproducing academic texts to reduce the copy time.
In the
Early Modern English
Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle E ...
period, between the 15th and 17th centuries, the
thorn
Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to:
Botany
* Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants
* ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species
Comics and literature
* Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...
was used for ''th'', as in ('the'). In modern times, was often used (in the form ) for promotional reasons, as in .
During the growth of
philological
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as the ...
linguistic theory in academic Britain, abbreviating became very fashionable. Likewise, a century earlier in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, a fad of abbreviation started that swept the United States, with the globally popular term
OK generally credited as a remnant of its influence.
Over the years, however, the lack of convention in some style guides has made it difficult to determine which two-word abbreviations should be abbreviated with periods and which should not. This question is considered below.
Widespread use of electronic communication through mobile phones and the Internet during the 1990s led to a marked rise in colloquial abbreviation. This was due largely to increasing popularity of textual communication services such as instant and text messaging. The original
SMS
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
supported message lengths of 160 characters at most (using the
GSM 03.38 character set), for instance. This brevity gave rise to an informal abbreviation scheme sometimes called
Textese, with which 10% or more of the words in a typical SMS message are abbreviated. More recently Twitter, a popular
social networking service
A social networking service or SNS (sometimes called a social networking site) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, act ...
, began driving abbreviation use with 140 character message limits.
Style conventions in English
In modern English, there are several conventions for abbreviations, and the choice may be confusing. The only rule universally accepted is that one should be ''consistent'', and to make this easier, publishers express their preferences in a
style guide
A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It is often called a style sheet, although that term also has multiple other meanings. The standards can be applied either for gene ...
. Some questions which arise are shown below.
Lowercase letters
If the original word was capitalized then the first letter of its abbreviation should retain the capital, for example Lev. for ''Leviticus''. When a word is abbreviated to more than a single letter and was originally spelled with lower case letters then there is no need for capitalization. However, when abbreviating a phrase where only the first letter of each word is taken, then all letters should be capitalized, as in YTD for ''year-to-date'', PCB for ''printed circuit board'' and FYI for ''for your information''. However, see the following section regarding abbreviations that have become common vocabulary: these are no longer written with capital letters.
Periods (full stops) and spaces
![“To Penna](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/%E2%80%9CTo_Penna._R.R._Station%E2%80%9D.jpg)
A period (full stop) is often used to signify an abbreviation, but opinion is divided as to when and if this should happen.
According to
Hart's Rules
''Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford''—today published under the short title ''New Hart's Rules''—is an authoritative reference book and style guide published in England by Oxford University Press (OUP ...
, the traditional rule is that abbreviations (in the narrow sense that includes only words with the ending, and not the middle, dropped) terminate with a full stop, whereas contractions (in the sense of words missing a middle part) do not, but there are exceptions.
[ ]Fowler's Modern English Usage
''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933), is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing. Covering topics such as plurals and literary technique, distinctions among like words ...
says full stops are used to mark both abbreviations and contractions, but recommends against this practice: advising them only for abbreviations and lower-case initialisms and not for upper-case initialisms and contractions.
In American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
, the period is usually included regardless of whether or not it is a contraction, e.g. ''Dr.'' or ''Mrs.''. In some cases, periods are optional, as in either ''US'' or ''U.S.'' for ''United States'', ''EU'' or ''E.U.'' for ''European Union'', and ''UN'' or ''U.N.'' for ''United Nations''. There are some house styles, however—American ones included—that remove the periods from almost all abbreviations. For example:
* The U.S. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
The ''Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways'' (usually referred to as the ''Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices'', abbreviated MUTCD) is a document issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the Unit ...
advises that periods should not be used with abbreviations on road signs, except for cardinal directions as part of a destination name. (For example, ''"Northwest Blvd"'', ''"W. Jefferson"'', and ''"PED XING"'' all follow this recommendation.)
* AMA style
''AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors'' is the style guide of the American Medical Association. It is written by the editors of ''JAMA'' (''Journal of the American Medical Association'') and the JAMA Network journals and is most ...
, used in many medical journal
A medical journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that communicates medical information to physicians, other health professionals. Journals that cover many medical specialties are sometimes called general medical journals.
History
The first ...
s, uses no periods in abbreviations or acronyms, with almost no exceptions. Thus eg, ie, vs, et al
References
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
{{Latin phrases
Lists of Latin phrases, E ...
, Dr, Mr, MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves ...
, ICU, and hundreds of others contain no periods. The only exceptions are (an abbreviation of Numero, Number), to avoid confusion with the word " No"; initials within persons' names (such as "George R. Smith"); and "St." within persons' names when the person prefers it (such as "Emily R. St. Clair") (but not in city names such as ''St Louis'' or ''St Paul'').
Acronyms that were originally capitalized (with or without periods) but have since entered the vocabulary as generic words are no longer written with capital letters nor with any periods. Examples are sonar
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...
, radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
, lidar
Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...
, laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
, snafu
SNAFU is an acronym that is widely used to stand for the sarcastic expression Situation normal: all fucked up. It is a well-known example of military acronym slang. It is sometimes bowdlerized to "all fouled up" or similar. It means that the s ...
, and scuba
Scuba may refer to:
* Scuba diving
** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving
* Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook
* Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, either of two in ...
.
Today, spaces are generally not used between single-letter abbreviations of words in the same phrase, so one almost never encounters "U. S."
When an abbreviation appears at the end of a sentence, only one period is used: ''The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C''.
Plural forms
There is a question about how to pluralize abbreviations, particularly acronyms. Some writers tend to pluralize abbreviations by adding (apostrophe s), as in "two PC's have broken screens", although this notation typically indicates possessive case
A possessive or ktetic form (abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict owne ...
. However, this style is not preferred by many style guides. For instance, Kate Turabian
Kate Larimore Turabian (born Laura Kate Larimore, February 26, 1893 – October 25, 1987) was an American educator who is best known for her book ''A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations''. In 2018 the Universit ...
, 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" and "Ph.D.'s", while the Modern Language Association
The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...
[Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition 2009, subsection 3.2.7.g] explicitly says, "do not use an apostrophe to form the plural of an abbreviation". Also, the American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
specifically says,[Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 5th Edition 2001, subsection 3.28][''Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association'', 6th Edition 2010, subsection 4.29] "without an apostrophe".
However, the 1999 style guide for ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' states that the addition of an apostrophe is necessary when pluralizing all abbreviations, preferring "PC's, TV's and VCR's".
Following those who would generally omit the apostrophe, to form the plural of run batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...
, simply add an s to the end of RBI.
*RBIs
For all other rules, see below:
To form the plural of an abbreviation, a number, or a capital letter used as a noun, simply add a lowercase ''s'' to the end. Apostrophes following decades and single letters are also common.
* A group of MPs
* The roaring 20s
* Mind your Ps and Qs
To indicate the plural of the abbreviation or symbol of a unit of measure, the same form is used as in the singular.
* 1 lb or 20 lb
* 1 ft or 16 ft
* 1 min or 45 min
When an abbreviation contains more than one full point, ''Hart's Rules'' recommends putting the ''s'' after the final one.
* Ph.D.s
* M.Phil.s
* the d.t.s
However, subject to any house style or consistency requirement, the same plurals may be rendered less formally as:
* PhDs
* MPhils
* the DTs. (This is the recommended form in the ''New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors''.)
According to ''Hart's Rules'', an apostrophe may be used in rare cases where clarity calls for it, for example when letters or symbols are referred to as objects.
* The x's of the equation
* Dot the i's and cross the t's
However, the apostrophe can be dispensed with if the items are set in italics or quotes:
* The ''x''s of the equation
* Dot the 'i's and cross the 't's
In Latin, and continuing to the derivative forms in European languages as well as English, single-letter abbreviations had the plural being a doubling of the letter for note-taking. Most of these deal with writing and publishing. A few longer abbreviations use this as well.
Conventions followed by publications and newspapers
United States
Publications based in the U.S. tend to follow the style guides of ''The Chicago Manual of Style
''The Chicago Manual of Style'' (abbreviated in writing as ''CMOS'' or ''CMS'', or sometimes as ''Chicago'') is a style guide for American English published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press. Its 17 editions have prescribed writi ...
'' and the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
. The U.S. Government follows a style guide published by the U.S. Government Printing Office
The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO; formerly the United States Government Printing Office) is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States Federal government. The office produces and distributes information ...
. The National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
sets the style for abbreviations of units.
United Kingdom
Many British publications follow some of these guidelines in abbreviation:
* For the sake of convenience, many British publications, including the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
and ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', have completely done away with the use of full stops or periods in all abbreviations. These include:
** Social titles, e.g. Ms or Mr (though these would usually have not had full stops—see above) Capt, Prof, ''etc.;''
** Two-letter abbreviations for countries (''"US"'', not ''"U.S."'');
** Abbreviations beyond three letters (full caps for all except initialisms);
** Words seldom abbreviated with lower case letters (''"PR"'', instead of ''"p.r."'', or ''"pr"'')
** Names (''"FW de Klerk"'', ''"GB Whiteley"'', ''"Park JS"''). A notable exception is ''The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'' which writes ''"Mr F. W. de Klerk"''.
** Scientific units (see Measurement below).
* Acronyms are often referred to with only the first letter of the abbreviation capitalized. For instance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two Nor ...
can be abbreviated as ''"Nato"'' or ''"NATO"'', and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, ''seve ...
as ''"Sars"'' or ''"SARS"'' (compare with ''"laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
"'' which has made the full transition to an English word and is rarely capitalised at all).
* Initialisms are always written in capitals; for example the ''"British Broadcasting Corporation"'' is abbreviated to ''"BBC"'', never ''"Bbc"''. An initialism is also an acronym but is not pronounced as a word.
* When abbreviating scientific units, no space is added between the number and unit (100mph, 100m, 10cm, 10°C). (This is contrary to the SI standard; see below.)
Miscellaneous and general rules
* A doubled letter appears in abbreviations of some Welsh names, as in Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
the double "l" is a separate sound: "Ll. George" for (British prime minister) David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...
.
* Some titles, such as "Reverend" and "Honourable", are spelt out when preceded by "the", rather than as "Rev." or "Hon." respectively. This is true for most British publications, and some in the United States.
* A repeatedly used abbreviation should be spelt out for identification on its first occurrence in a written or spoken passage. Abbreviations likely to be unfamiliar to many readers should be avoided.
Measurements: abbreviations or symbols
Writers often use shorthand to denote units of measure. Such shorthand can be an abbreviation, such as "in" for "inch
Measuring tape with inches
The inch (symbol: in or ″) is a unit of length in the British imperial and the United States customary systems of measurement. It is equal to yard or of a foot. Derived from the Roman uncia ("twelfth") ...
" or can be a symbol such as "km" for "kilometre
The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ex ...
" (or kilometer).
In the International System of Units
The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. E ...
(SI) manual the word "symbol" is used consistently to define the shorthand used to represent the various SI units of measure. The manual also defines the way in which units should be written, the principal rules being:
*The conventions for upper and lower case letters must be observed—for example 1 MW (megawatts) is equal to 1,000,000 watt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...
s and 1,000,000,000 mW (milliwatts).
*No periods should be inserted between letters—for example "m.s" (which is an approximation of "m·s", which correctly uses middle dot
An interpunct , also known as an interpoint, middle dot, middot and centered dot or centred dot, is a punctuation mark consisting of a vertically centered dot used for interword separation in ancient Latin script. (Word-separating spaces did no ...
) is the symbol for "metres multiplied by seconds", but "ms" is the symbol for milliseconds.
*No periods should follow the symbol unless the syntax of the sentence demands otherwise (for example a full stop at the end of a sentence).
*The singular and plural versions of the symbol are identical—not all languages use the letter "s" to denote a plural.
Syllabic abbreviation
A syllabic abbreviation is usually formed from the initial syllables of several words, such as ''Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
'' = ''International'' + ''police''. It is a variant of the acronym. Syllabic abbreviations are usually written using lower case
Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...
, sometimes starting with a capital letter
Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...
, and are always pronounced as words rather than letter by letter. Syllabic abbreviations should be distinguished from portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[Migjeni
Millosh Gjergj Nikolla (; 13 October 191126 August 1938), commonly known by the acronym pen name Migjeni, was an Albanian poet and writer, considered one of the most important of the 20th century. After his death, he was recognized as one of the ...](_blank)
'' – an abbreviation from his original name (''Millosh Gjergj Nikolla'') a famous Albanian poet and writer – or '' ASDRENI'' (''Aleksander Stavre Drenova''), another famous Albanian poet.
Other such names which are used commonly in recent decades are GETOAR, composed from ''Gegeria
Northern Albania ( sq, Shqipëria Veriore) is one of the three NUTS-2 Regions of Albania. This ethnographical territory is sometimes referred to as ''Ghegeria'' ( sq, Gegëria) which also includes parts of the Albanian-inhabited territories of ...
'' + ''Tosks
Tosks ( sq, Toskët) are one of two major dialectal subgroups of Albanians (the other being the Ghegs) differentiated by their cultural, linguistic, social and religious characteristics.
Territory
''Tosk'' may refer to the Tosk-speaking Albania ...
'' (representing the two main dialects of the Albanian language, Gegë and Toskë, based on the country's two main regions Gegëria and Toskëria, and 'Arbanon
Arbanon ( sq, Arbër or , el, Ἄρβανον, ''Árvanon''; la, Arbanum) was a principality ruled by the native Progoni family, and the first Albanian state to emerge in recorded history. The principality was established in 1190 by the native ...
'' - which is an alternative way used to describe all Albanian lands.
English
Syllabic abbreviations are not widely used in English. Some UK government agencies such as Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
(''Office of Communications'') and the former Oftel
The Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) (''the telecommunications regulator'') was a department in the United Kingdom government, under civil service control, charged with promoting competition and maintaining the interests of consumers in the UK ...
(''Office of Telecommunications'') use this style.
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
has various neighborhoods named by syllabic abbreviation, such as Tribeca
Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stre ...
(''Triangle below Canal Street'') and SoHo
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
(''South of Houston Street''). This usage has spread into other American cities, giving SoMa
Soma may refer to:
Businesses and brands
* SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects
* Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems
* SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...
, San Francisco (''South of Market'') and LoDo, Denver
LoDo (Lower Downtown) is an unofficial neighborhood in Denver, Colorado, and is one of the oldest places of settlement in the city. It is a mixed-use historic district, known for its nightlife, and serves as an example of success in urban reinves ...
(''Lower Downtown''), amongst others.
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
-based electric service provider ComEd
Commonwealth Edison, commonly known by syllabic abbreviation as ComEd, is the largest electric utility in Illinois, and the in Chicago and much of Northern Illinois. Its service territory stretches roughly from Iroquois County on the south to ...
is a syllabic abbreviation of (''Commonwealth'') and (Thomas) ''Edison''.
Sections of California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
are also often colloquially syllabically abbreviated, as in NorCal (''Northern California''), CenCal (''Central California''), and SoCal (''Southern California''). Additionally, in the context of Los Angeles, California, the Syllabic abbreviation SoHo (Southern Hollywood) refers to the southern portion of the Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
neighborhood.
Partially syllabic abbreviations are preferred by the US Navy, as they increase readability amidst the large number of initialisms that would otherwise have to fit into the same acronyms. Hence '' DESRON 6'' is used (in the full capital form) to mean "Destroyer Squadron 6", while ''COMNAVAIRLANT
Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic (a. k. a. COMNAVAIRLANT, AIRLANT, and CNAL) is the aviation Type Commander (TYCOM) for the United States Naval aviation units operating primarily in the Atlantic under United States Fleet Forces Command. Type Co ...
'' would be "Commander, Naval Air Force (in the) Atlantic."
Syllabic abbreviations are a prominent feature of Newspeak
Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate that is the setting of the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. In the novel, the Party created Newspeak to meet the ideological requirements ...
, the fictional language of George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
's dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four
''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final ...
''. The political contractions of Newspeak—''Ingsoc'' (English Socialism), ''Minitrue'' (Ministry of Truth), ''Miniplenty'' (Ministry of Plenty
The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania (Nineteen Eighty-Four), Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orw ...
)—are described by Orwell as similar to real examples of German ''(q.v.
} (right to left).
, -
, ''quo errat demonstrator'', , where the prover errs, , A pun on "quod erat demonstrandum"
, -
, ''quo fata ferunt'', , where the fates bear us to, , motto of Bermuda
, -
, ''quo non ascendam'' , , to what heights can I ...
)'' and Russian contractions (''q.v.
} (right to left).
, -
, ''quo errat demonstrator'', , where the prover errs, , A pun on "quod erat demonstrandum"
, -
, ''quo fata ferunt'', , where the fates bear us to, , motto of Bermuda
, -
, ''quo non ascendam'' , , to what heights can I ...
)'' in the 20th century. Like ''Nazi'' (''Nationalsozialismus'') and ''Gestapo'' (''Geheime Staatspolizei''), ''politburo'' ( Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), ''Comintern'' (Communist International), ''kolkhoz
A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...
'' (collective farm
Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member ...
), and ''Komsomol'' (Young Communists' League), the contractions in Newspeak are supposed to have a political function by virtue of their abbreviated structure itself: nice sounding and easily pronounceable, their purpose is to mask all ideological content from the speaker.
A more recent syllabic abbreviation has emerged with the disease COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
''(COrona VIrus Disease 2019)'' caused by the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a No ...
virus (itself frequently abbreviated to SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...
, partly an initialism).
German
Syllabic abbreviations were and are common in German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
; much like acronyms in English, they have a distinctly modern connotation, although contrary to popular belief, many date back to before 1933
Events
January
* January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand.
* January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...
, if not the end of the Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. ''Kriminalpolizei'', literally ''criminal police'' but idiomatically the Criminal Investigation Department
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of b ...
of any German police force, begat ''KriPo'' (variously capitalised), and likewise ''Schutzpolizei'', the ''protection police'' or ''uniform department'', begat ''SchuPo''. Along the same lines, the Swiss Federal Railways' Transit Police—the ''Transportpolizei''—are abbreviated as the ''TraPo''.
With the National Socialist German Workers' Party gaining power came a frenzy of government reorganisation, and with it a series of entirely new syllabic abbreviations. The single national police force amalgamated from the ''Schutzpolizeien'' of the various states became the ''Ordnungspolizei'' or "order police"; the state KriPos together formed the ''Sicherheitspolizei'' or "security police"; and there was also the Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
(''Geheime Staatspolizei'') or "secret state police". The new order of the German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
in the east brought about a conscious denazification
Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...
, but also a repudiation of earlier turns of phrase in favour of neologisms such as ''Stasi
The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990.
The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
'' for ''Staatssicherheit'' ("state security", the secret police) and ''VoPo'' for ''Volkspolizei''. The phrase ''politisches Büro'', which may be rendered literally as ''office of politics'' or idiomatically as ''political party steering committee'', became ''Politbüro
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
''.
Syllabic abbreviations are not only used in politics, however. Many business names, trademarks, and service marks from across Germany are created on the same pattern: for a few examples, there is Aldi
Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...
, from ''Theo Albrecht'', the name of its founder, followed by ''discount''; Haribo
Haribo ( ) is a German confectionery company founded by Hans Riegel Sr.. It began in Kessenich, Bonn, Germany. The name "Haribo" is a syllabic abbreviation formed from Hans Riegel Bonn. The company created the first gummy candy in 1960 in the for ...
, from ''Hans Riegel'', the name of its founder, followed by ''Bonn'', the town of its head office; and Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
, from ''Adolf "Adi" Dassler'', the nickname of its founder followed by his surname.
Russian
Syllabic abbreviations are very common in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. They are often used as names of organizations. Historically, popularization of abbreviations was a way to simplify mass-education in 1920s (see Likbez
Likbez (russian: ликбе́з, ; from a Russian abbreviation for russian: ликвида́ция безгра́мотности, translit=likvidatsiya bezgramotnosti, label=none, , meaning "elimination of illiteracy") was a campaign of eradicat ...
).
Leninist organisations such as the ''Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
'' (''Communist International'') and ''Komsomol
The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...
'' (''Kommunisticheskii Soyuz Molodyozhi'', or "Communist youth union") used Russian language syllabic abbreviations. In the modern Russian language, words like ''Rosselkhozbank'' (from Rossiysky selskokhozyaystvenny bank — Russian Agricultural Bank
Russian Agricultural Bank (russian: Россельхозбанк) (RusAg) is a 100% state-owned bank regulated by the Bank of Russia. RusAg is providing lending support to Russian agribusiness.
History
Modern agribusiness production systems are c ...
, RusAg) and ''Minobrnauki'' (from Ministerstvo obrazovaniya i nauki — Ministry of Education and Science) are still commonly used. In nearby Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
, there are ''Beltelecom'' (Belarus Telecommunication) and Belsat (Belarus Satellite).
Spanish
Syllabic abbreviations are common in Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
; examples abound in organization names such as Pemex
Pemex (a portmanteau of Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to ''Mexican Petroleum'' in English; ) is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company managed and operated by the Mexican government. It was formed in 1938 by nationalization and expr ...
for ''Petróleos Mexicanos'' ("Mexican Petroleums") or Fonafifo for ''Fondo Nacional de Financimiento Forestal'' (National Forestry Financing Fund).
Malay and Indonesian
In Southeast Asian languages, especially in Malay languages
The Malayic languages are a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The most prominent member is Malay, which is the national language of Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia; it further serves as basis for Ind ...
, syllabic abbreviations are also common; examples include Petronas
Petroliam Nasional Berhad (National Petroleum Limited), commonly known as Petronas, is a Malaysian oil and gas company. Established in 1974 and wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with all oil and gas reso ...
(for ''Petroliam Nasional'', "National Petroleum"), its Indonesian equivalent Pertamina
PT Pertamina (Persero), formerly abbreviated from ''Perusahaan Pertambangan Minyak dan Gas Bumi Negara'' (lit. 'State Oil and Natural Gas Mining Company'), is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was cr ...
(from its original name ''Perusahaan Pertambangan Minyak dan Gas Bumi Negara'', "State Oil and Natural Gas Mining Company"), and Kemenhub (from ''Kementerian Perhubungan'', "Ministry of Transportation")
Chinese and Japanese kanji
East Asian languages whose writing systems use Chinese characters
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
form abbreviations similarly by using key Chinese characters from a term or phrase. For example, in Japanese the term for the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, ''kokusai rengō'' (国際連合) is often abbreviated to ''kokuren'' (国連). (Such abbreviations are called ryakugo (略語) in Japanese; see also Japanese abbreviated and contracted words
Abbreviated and contracted words are a common feature of Japanese language, Japanese. Long words are often contracted into shorter forms, which then become the predominant forms. For example, the University of Tokyo, in Japanese becomes , and "rem ...
). The syllabic abbreviation of kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
words is frequently used for universities: for instance, ''Tōdai'' (東大) for ''Tōkyō daigaku'' (東京大学, University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...
) and is used similarly in Chinese: ''Běidà'' (北大) for ''Běijīng Dàxué'' (北京大学, Peking University
Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education.
Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...
). The English phrase "Gung ho
''Gung ho'' () is an English term, with the current meaning of "overly enthusiastic or energetic". It originated during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) from a Chinese term, ( zh, hp=gōnghé, l=to work together), short for Chinese ...
" originated as a Chinese abbreviation.
See also
* Abbreviation (music)
Abbreviations in music are of two kinds, namely, Glossary_of_musical_terminology, abbreviations of terms related to musical expression, and the true musical abbreviations by the help of which certain passages, chords, etc., may be notated in a sho ...
* Clipping (morphology)
In linguistics, clipping, also called truncation or shortening, is word formation by removing some Segment (linguistics), segments of an existing word to create a synonym. Clipping differs from abbreviation, which is based on a shortening of the ...
* Gramogram A gramogram, grammagram, or letteral word is a letter or group of letters which can be pronounced to form one or more words, as in "CU" for "see you". They are a subset of rebuses, and are commonly used as abbreviations.
They are sometimes used as ...
* List of abbreviations used in medical prescriptions
This is a list of abbreviations used in medical prescriptions, including hospital orders (the patient-directed part of which is referred to as sig codes). This list does not include abbreviations for pharmaceuticals or drug name suffixes such as C ...
* List of abbreviations in photography
During most of the 20th century photography depended mainly upon the photochemical technology of silver halide emulsions on glass plates or roll film.Langford, Michael. ''Story of Photography''. Focal Press, 1998, pp. 224. . Early in the 21 ...
* List of acronyms
Lists of acronyms contain acronyms, a type of abbreviation formed from the initial components of the words of a longer name or phrase. They are organized alphabetically and by field.
Alphabetical
* List of acronyms: 0–9
* List of acronyms: A ...
* List of business and finance abbreviations
This is a list of abbreviations used in a business of financial context.
0-9
*1H – First half of the year
*24/7 – 24 hours a day, seven days a week
*80/20 – According to the Pareto principle, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects c ...
* List of classical abbreviations
The following list contains a selection from the Latin abbreviations that occur in the writings and inscriptions of the Romans.
A
*A. – ''Absolvo, Actum, Aedilis, Aes, Aedilis, Ager, Ago, Aio, Amicus, Annus, Antiquo, Auctor, Auditor, Aug ...
* List of medieval abbreviations
Examples of sigla in use in the Middle Ages:
A
*ā—''annus'' or ''aut.''
*á—''aut''.
*Ắ—'' Antiphona''.
*a'—'' antiphona'' or ''autem''.
*a.—''annus''.
*A.—''Accursius'' or ''Albericus''.
*A:—''Amen''.
*ab.—'' Abbas'' ...
* List of portmanteaus
This is a selection of portmanteau words.
Animals Hybrids
* cama, from camel and llama
* cattalo, from cattle and buffalo
* donkra, from donkey and zebra (progeny of donkey stallion and zebra mare) cf. zedonk below
* geep, from goat and sheep ...
* Neologism
A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...
* Numeronym
A numeronym is a number-based word. Most commonly, a numeronym is a word where a number is used to form an abbreviation (albeit not an acronym or an initialism). Pronouncing the letters and numbers may sound similar to the full word, as in " K9" ( ...
* RAS syndrome
RAS syndrome (where "RAS" stands for "redundant acronym syndrome", making the phrase "RAS syndrome" Autological word, homological) is the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym (or other initialism) in conjunction with ...
* SMS language
Short Message Service (SMS) language, textism, or textese is the abbreviated language and slang commonly used in the late 1990s and early 2000s with mobile phone text messaging, and occasionally through Internet-based communication such as ema ...
* The abbreviations used in the 1913 edition of Webster's dictionary
* Unicode alias names and abbreviations
In Unicode, characters can have a unique name. A character can also have one or more alias names. An alias name can be an abbreviation, a C0 or C1 control name, a correction, an alternate name or a figment. An alias too is unique over all names an ...
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control