Topic summary
Anacronym
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Acronym.
Normal case and anacronyms
Where an acronym has linguistically taken on an identity as regular word, the acronym may use normal case rules, e.g. it would appear generally in lower case, but with an initial capital when starting a sentence or when in a title. Once knowledge of the words underlying such an acronym has faded from common recall, the acronym may be termed an anacronym. Examples of anacronyms are the words "scuba", "radar", and "laser". The word "anacronym" should not be confused with the word "anachronym", which is a type of misnomer.