"FYI" is a common abbreviation of "for your information". The term, originally a

wire service A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...

abbreviation used by journalists, is commonly used in

email Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of synchronous computer-mediated communication involving the immediate ( real-time) transmission of messages between two or more parties over the Internet or another computer network. Originally involv ...

and other messages to indicate an informational message or explanatory statement not suggesting any action, or requiring a response. The abbreviation is also commonly used in spoken conversations. Use of "FYI" has been attested from 1915, as "just a little thing that saves space on a telegraph message" (charged by the word). Among

Internet Standard In computer network engineering, an Internet Standard is a normative specification of a technology or methodology applicable to the Internet. Internet Standards are created and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). They allow ...

s, FYIs are a

subset In mathematics, a 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 a ...

of the

Request for Comments A Request for Comments (RFC) is a publication in a series from the principal technical development and standards-setting bodies for the Internet, most prominently the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). An RFC is authored by individuals or ...

(RFC) series. The FYI series of notes is designed to provide

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

users with a central repository of information about any topics which relate to the Internet. FYI topics may range from historical memos on "Why it was done that way" to answers to commonly asked operational questions.

References

Initialisms {{vocab-stub