Initialisms

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 in ''Benelux'' (short for ''Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg''). They can also be a mixture, as in ''radar'' (''Radio Detection And Ranging'').

Acronyms can be pronounced as words, like ''NASA'' and ''UNESCO''; as individual letters, like ''FBI'', ''TNT'', and ''ATM''; or as both letters and words, like ''JPEG'' (pronounced ') and ''IUPAC''. Some are not universally pronounced one way or the other and it depends on the speaker's preference or the context in which it is being used, such as '' SQL'' (either "sequel" or "ess-cue-el").

The broader sense of ''acronym''—the meaning of which includes terms pronounced as letters—is sometimes criticized, but it is the term's original meaning and is in common use. Dictionary and style-guide editors are not in universal agreement on the naming for such abbreviations, and it is a matter of some dispute whether the term ''acronym'' can be legitimately applied to abbreviations which are not pronounced "as words", nor do these language authorities agree on the correct use of spacing, casing, and punctuation.

Abbreviations formed from a string of initials and usually pronounced as individual letters are sometimes more specifically called initialisms or alphabetisms; examples are ''FBI'' from ''Federal Bureau of Investigation'', and ''e.g.'' from Latin .

Etymology

The word ''acronym'' is formed from the Greek roots ''acr-'', meaning "height, summit, or tip" and ''-onym'', meaning "name". This neoclassical compound appears to have originated in German, with attestations for the German form ' appearing as early as 1921. Citations in English date to a 1940 translation of a novel by the German writer Lion Feuchtwanger.

Nomenclature

Whereas an abbreviation may be any type of shortened form, such as words with the middle omitted (for example, ''Rd'' for ''Road'' or ''Dr'' for ''Doctor'') or the end truncated (as in ''Prof.'' for ''Professor''), an acronym is—in the broad sense—formed from the first letter or first few letters of each important word in a phrase (such as ''AIDS'', from ''acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome'', and ''scuba'' from ''self-contained underwater breathing apparatus''). However, this is only a loose rule of thumb, as some acronyms are built in part from the first letters of morphemes (word components; as in the ''i'' and ''d'' in ''immuno-deficiency'') or using a letter from the middle or end of a word, or from only a few key words in a long phrase or name. Less significant words such as ''in'', ''of'', and ''the'' are usually dropped (''NYT'' for ''The New York Times'', ''DMV'' for '' Department of Motor Vehicles''), but not always (''TICA'' for ''The International Cat Association'', ''DOJ'' for ''Department of Justice'').

Abbreviations formed from a string of initials and usually pronounced as individual letters (as in ''FBI'' from ''Federal Bureau of Investigation'', and ''e.g.'' from Latin ) are sometimes more specifically called initialisms or alphabetisms. Occasionally, some letter other than the first is chosen, most often when the pronunciation of the name of the letter coincides with the pronunciation of the beginning of the word (example: ''BX'' from ''base exchange''). Acronyms that are usually pronounced as words, such as ''AIDS'' and ''scuba'', are sometimes called word acronyms, to disambiguate them more clearly from initialisms, especially since some users of the term "initialism" use "acronym" in a narrow sense meaning only the type sounded out as letters. Another sub-type of acronym (or a related form, depending upon one's definitions) is the syllabic abbreviation, which is composed specifically of multi-letter syllabic (even multi-syllabic) fragments of the abbreviated words; some examples are ''FOREX'' from ''foreign exchange'', and ''Interpol'' from ''international'' + ''police'', though its full proper name in English is the International Criminal Police Organization. Usually the first syllable (or two) is used from each major component word, but there are exceptions, such as the US Navy term ''DESRON'' or ''DesRon'' from ''destroyer squadron''.

There is no special term for abbreviations whose pronunciation involves the combination of letter names with words, or with word-like pronunciations of strings of letters, such as ''JPEG'' () and ''MS-DOS'' (). Similarly, there is no unique name for those that are a mixture of syllabic abbreviations and initialisms; these are usually pronounced as words (e.g., ''radar'' from ''radio detection and ranging'', consisting of one syllabic abbreviation and three single letters, and ''sonar'' from ''sound navigation ranging'', consisting of two syllabic abbreviations followed by a single acronymic letter for ''ranging''); these would generally qualify as word acronyms among those who use that term. There is also some disagreement as to what to call an abbreviation that some speakers pronounce as letters but others pronounce as a word. For example, the terms '' URL'' and ''IRA'' (for ''individual retirement account'') can be pronounced as individual letters: and , respectively; or as a single word: and , respectively. The same character string may be pronounced differently when the meaning is different; ''IRA'' is always sounded out as ''I-R-A'' when standing for ''Irish Republican Army''.

The spelled-out form of an acronym, initialism, or syllabic abbreviation (that is, what that abbreviation stands for) is called its ''expansion''.

Lexicography and style guides

It is an unsettled question in English lexicography and style guides whether it is legitimate to use the word ''acronym'' to describe forms that use initials but are not pronounced as a word. While there is plenty of evidence that ''acronym'' is used widely in this way, some sources do not acknowledge this usage, reserving the term ''acronym'' only for forms pronounced as a word, and using ''initialism'' or ''abbreviation'' for those that are not. Some sources acknowledge the usage, but vary in whether they criticize or forbid it, allow it without comment, or explicitly advocate for it.

Some mainstream English dictionaries from across the English-speaking world affirm a sense of ''acronym'' which does not require being pronounced as a word. American English dictionaries such as ''Merriam-Webster'', Dictionary.com's ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary'' and the ''American Heritage Dictionary'' as well as the British ''Oxford English Dictionary''
and the Australian ''Macquarie Dictionary'' all include a sense in their entries for ''acronym'' equating it with ''initialism'', although ''The American Heritage Dictionary'' criticizes it with the label "usage problem". However, many English language dictionaries, such as the
''Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary'', ''Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary'', ''Macmillan Dictionary'', ''Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English'', ''New Oxford American Dictionary'', ''Webster's New World Dictionary'', and ''Lexico'' from Oxford University Press do not acknowledge such a sense.

Most of the dictionary entries and style guide recommendations regarding the term ''acronym'' through the twentieth century did not explicitly acknowledge or support the expansive sense. The Merriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usage from 1994 is one of the earliest publications to advocate for the expansive sense,Merriam-Webster, Inc. ''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'', 1994. . pp. 21–22:
and all the major dictionary editions that include a sense of ''acronym'' equating it with ''initialism'' were first published in the twenty-first century. The trend among dictionary editors appears to be towards including a sense defining ''acronym'' as ''initialism'': The ''Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary'' added such a sense in its eleventh edition in 2003, and both the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' and the ''American Heritage Dictionary'' added such senses in their 2011 editions. The 1989 edition of the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' only included the exclusive sense for ''acronym'' and its earliest citation was from 1943. In early December 2010, Duke University researcher Stephen Goranson published a citation for ''acronym'' to the American Dialect Society e-mail discussion list which refers to ''PGN'' being pronounced "pee-gee-enn," antedating English language usage of the word to 1940. Linguist Ben Zimmer then mentioned this citation in his December 16, 2010 "On Language" column about acronyms in The New York Times Magazine. By 2011, the publication of the third edition of the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' added the expansive sense to its entry for ''acronym'' and included the 1940 citation. As the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' structures the senses in order of chronological development, it now gives the "initialism" sense first.

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

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

Comparing a few examples of each type

*Pronounced as a word, containing ''only'' initial letters
**NATO: "North Atlantic Treaty Organization"
**Scuba: "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus"
**Laser: "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation"
**GIF: "graphics interchange format"
*Pronounced as a word, containing a mixture of initial and non-initial letters
**Amphetamine: "alpha-methyl-phenethylamine"
**''Gestapo'': ' (secret state police)
**Radar: "radio detection and ranging"
*Pronounced as a combination of spelling out and a word
**CD-ROM: (''cee-dee-'') "compact disc read-only memory"
**IUPAC: (''i-u-'' or ''i-u-pee-a-cee'') "International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry"
**JPEG: (''jay-'' or ''jay-pee-e-gee'') "Joint Photographic Experts Group"
** SFMOMA: (''ess-ef-'' or ''ess-ef-em-o-em-a'') "San Francisco Museum of Modern Art"
*Pronounced only as a string of letters
**BBC
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