Abbreviations and Acronyms

Abbreviations and Acronyms letter or group of letters used in writing, printing, and speech to represent a word or phrase in shortened form. Abbreviations are used to save space and time. The most common are arbitrary signs or initial letters for the words themselves.

Shortened word forms have been in use since antiquity, and many current abbreviations have come from Latin. Most of the arts and sciences use symbols as abbreviations; they are universally understood. Although no specific rule governs the formation of abbreviations, certain kinds have become standard. The most common are (1) first and last letters, for example, PA for Pennsylvania; (2) key identifying letters, for example, apt. for apartment; (3) syllables, for example, anon. for anonymous; (4) initials, as with titles or long names, for example, OAS for Organization of American States.

A word formed from the initials or from the elements of a compound term is called an acronym and is usually spelled without periods, such as NATO for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. An organization may adopt a name so that the acronym indicates the nature of the organization, for example, WAVES, which comes from Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.

See also International System of Units.