This is a list of common Latin

abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''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 ''abbrevia ...

s. Nearly all the abbreviations below have been adopted by Modern English. However, with some exceptions (for example, ''versus'' or ''

modus operandi A ''modus operandi'' (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode (or manner) of op ...

''), most of the Latin referent words and phrases are perceived as foreign to English. In a few cases, English referents have replaced the original Latin ones (e.g., "

rest in peace Rest in peace (RIP), a phrase from the Latin (), is sometimes used in traditional Christian services and prayers, such as in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist denominations, to wish the soul of a decedent eternal rest and peace. ...

" for RIP and "

postscript PostScript (PS) is a page description language in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm. It is a dynamically typed, concatenative programming language. It was created at Adobe Systems by John Warnock, Charles Geschke, Doug Br ...

" for PS). Latin was once the universal academic language in Europe. From the 18th century, authors started using their mother tongues to write books, papers or proceedings. Even when Latin fell out of use, many Latin abbreviations continued to be used due to their precise simplicity and Latin's status as a learned language.

List of common abbreviations

All abbreviations are given with

full stops The full stop (Commonwealth English), period (North American English), or full point , is a punctuation mark. It is used for several purposes, most often to mark the end of a declarative sentence (as distinguished from a question or exclamation ...

, although, in most situations, these are omitted or included as a personal preference.

List of less common abbreviations and usages

Words and abbreviations that have been in general use but are currently used less often.

Used in biology

aff. ''Species affinis'' (commonly abbreviated to: ''sp.'', ''aff.'', or ''affin.'') is taxonomic terminology in zoology and botany. In open nomenclature it indicates that available material or evidence suggests that the proposed species is related to, h ...

(''affinis''): having affinity with, similar but not identical to * auct. ('' auctorum''): of the authors; indicates that a name is used in the sense of subsequent authors, and not in the sense of the original author * Ca. ( Candidatus): for candidate names of organisms that have not been completely accepted * ex. (''exemplar''): example or specimen; plural abbreviated as exx. * f. sp. ('' forma specialis''): a special form adapted to a specific host; plural abbreviated as ff. spp. * in coll. (''in collectionem''): in the collection, often followed by the name of a collection or museum * indet. (''indeterminans''): undetermined, unidentified * leg. (''legit''): he/she collected, often followed by the name of the collector * nob. (''nobis''): by us, used to indicate that the writer(s) are the author(s) of a scientific name * sensu: "in the sense of", used for different groups of organisms * sp. ('' species''): species (singular); plural also ''species'', abbreviated as spp. * sp. nov. ('' species nova''): new species (singular); plural is ''species novae'', abbreviated as spp. nov. * ssp., subsp. (''

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

''): subspecies (singular); plural is ''subspecies'', abbreviated sspp. or subspp.

References

Bibliography

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External links