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An abbreviation (from
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
''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 ''abbreviation'' can itself be represented by the abbreviation ''abbr.'', ''abbrv.'', or ''abbrev.''; ''NPO'', for nil (or nothing) per (by) os (mouth) is an abbreviated medical instruction. It may also consist of initials only, a mixture of initials and words, or words or letters representing words in another language (for example, e.g., i.e. or RSVP). Some types of abbreviations are
acronym 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 ...
s (some pronounceable, some
initialism 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 ...
s) or grammatical contractions or crasis. An abbreviation is a shortening by any of these or other methods.


Different types of abbreviation

Acronyms, initialisms, contractions and crasis share some
semantic Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...
and
phonetic Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
functions, and all four are connected by the term "abbreviation" in loose parlance. A initialism is an abbreviation pronounced by spelling out each letter, i.e. FBI ( ), USA ( ), IBM ( ), BBC ( ) A contraction is a reduction in the length of a word or phrase made by omitting certain of its letters or
syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological ...
s. Consequently, contractions are a
subset In mathematics, set ''A'' is a subset of a set ''B'' if all 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 are unequal, then ''A'' is a proper subset of ...
of abbreviations. Often, but not always, the contraction includes the first and last letters or elements. Examples of contractions are "li'l" (for "little"), "I'm" (for "I am"), and "he'd've" (for "he would have").


History

Abbreviations have a long history. They were created to avoid spelling out whole words. This might be done to save time and space (given that many inscriptions were carved in stone) and also to provide secrecy. In both
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
and
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
the reduction of words to single letters was common. In Roman inscriptions, "Words were commonly abbreviated by using the initial letter or letters of words, and most inscriptions have at least one abbreviation". However, "some could have more than one meaning, depending on their context. (For example, can be an abbreviation for many words, such as , , , , , , and .)" Many frequent abbreviations consisted of more than one letter: for example COS for ''consul'' and COSS for its
nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Eng ...
etc. plural ''consules''. Abbreviations were frequently used in English from its earliest days. Manuscripts of copies of the
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
poem ''
Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...
'' used many abbreviations, for example the Tironian et () or for ''and'', and for ''since'', so that "not much space is wasted". The standardisation of English in the 15th through 17th centuries included a growth in the use of such abbreviations. At first, abbreviations were sometimes represented with various suspension signs, not only periods. For example, sequences like ‹er› were replaced with ‹ɔ›, as in ‹mastɔ› for ''master'' and ‹exacɔbate› for ''exacerbate''. While this may seem trivial, it was symptomatic of an attempt by people manually reproducing academic texts to reduce the copy time. In the Early Modern English period, between the 15th and 17th centuries, the
thorn Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Comic ...
was used for ''th'', as in ('the'). In modern times, was often used (in the form ) for promotional reasons, as in . During the growth of philological linguistic theory in academic Britain, abbreviating became very fashionable. Likewise, a century earlier in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, a fad of abbreviation started that swept the United States, with the globally popular term OK generally credited as a remnant of its influence. Over the years, however, the lack of convention in some style guides has made it difficult to determine which two-word abbreviations should be abbreviated with periods and which should not. This question is considered below. Widespread use of electronic communication through mobile phones and the Internet during the 1990s led to a marked rise in colloquial abbreviation. This was due largely to increasing popularity of textual communication services such as instant and text messaging. The original
SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
supported message lengths of 160 characters at most (using the GSM 03.38 character set), for instance. This brevity gave rise to an informal abbreviation scheme sometimes called Textese, with which 10% or more of the words in a typical SMS message are abbreviated. More recently Twitter, a popular
social networking service A social networking service or SNS (sometimes called a social networking site) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, ac ...
, began driving abbreviation use with 140 character message limits.


Style conventions in English

In modern English, there are several conventions for abbreviations, and the choice may be confusing. The only rule universally accepted is that one should be ''consistent'', and to make this easier, publishers express their preferences in a
style guide A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It is often called a style sheet, although that term also has multiple other meanings. The standards can be applied either for gene ...
. Some questions which arise are shown below.


Lowercase letters

If the original word was capitalized then the first letter of its abbreviation should retain the capital, for example Lev. for ''Leviticus''. When a word is abbreviated to more than a single letter and was originally spelled with lower case letters then there is no need for capitalization. However, when abbreviating a phrase where only the first letter of each word is taken, then all letters should be capitalized, as in YTD for ''year-to-date'', PCB for ''printed circuit board'' and FYI for ''for your information''. However, see the following section regarding abbreviations that have become common vocabulary: these are no longer written with capital letters.


Periods (full stops) and spaces

A period (full stop) is often used to signify an abbreviation, but opinion is divided as to when and if this should happen. According to Hart's Rules, the traditional rule is that abbreviations (in the narrow sense that includes only words with the ending, and not the middle, dropped) terminate with a full stop, whereas contractions (in the sense of words missing a middle part) do not, but there are exceptions.
Fowler's Modern English Usage ''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage'' (1926), by Henry Watson Fowler (1858–1933), is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing. Covering topics such as plurals and literary technique, distinctions among like wor ...
says full stops are used to mark both abbreviations and contractions, but recommends against this practice: advising them only for abbreviations and lower-case initialisms and not for upper-case initialisms and contractions. In
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
, the period is usually included regardless of whether or not it is a contraction, e.g. ''Dr.'' or ''Mrs.''. In some cases, periods are optional, as in either ''US'' or ''U.S.'' for ''United States'', ''EU'' or ''E.U.'' for ''European Union'', and ''UN'' or ''U.N.'' for ''United Nations''. There are some house styles, however—American ones included—that remove the periods from almost all abbreviations. For example: * The U.S. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices advises that periods should not be used with abbreviations on road signs, except for cardinal directions as part of a destination name. (For example, ''"Northwest Blvd"'', ''"W. Jefferson"'', and ''"PED XING"'' all follow this recommendation.) *
AMA style ''AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors'' is the style guide of the American Medical Association. It is written by the editors of ''JAMA'' (''Journal of the American Medical Association'') and the JAMA Network journals and is most ...
, used in many
medical journal A medical journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that communicates medical information to physicians, other health professionals. Journals that cover many medical specialties are sometimes called general medical journals. History The fi ...
s, uses no periods in abbreviations or acronyms, with almost no exceptions. Thus eg, ie, vs, et al, Dr, Mr, MRI, ICU, and hundreds of others contain no periods. The only exceptions are (an abbreviation of Numero, Number), to avoid confusion with the word " No"; initials within persons' names (such as "George R. Smith"); and "St." within persons' names when the person prefers it (such as "Emily R. St. Clair") (but not in city names such as ''St Louis'' or ''St Paul''). Acronyms that were originally capitalized (with or without periods) but have since entered the vocabulary as generic words are no longer written with capital letters nor with any periods. Examples are
sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...
,
radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...
,
lidar Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...
,
laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The ...
, snafu, and
scuba Scuba may refer to: * Scuba diving ** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving * Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, either of two in ...
. Today, spaces are generally not used between single-letter abbreviations of words in the same phrase, so one almost never encounters "U. S." When an abbreviation appears at the end of a sentence, only one period is used: ''The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C''.


Plural forms

There is a question about how to pluralize abbreviations, particularly acronyms. Some writers tend to pluralize abbreviations by adding (apostrophe s), as in "two PC's have broken screens", although this notation typically indicates possessive case. However, this style is not preferred by many style guides. For instance,
Kate Turabian Kate Larimore Turabian (born Laura Kate Larimore, February 26, 1893 – October 25, 1987) was an American educator who is best known for her book ''A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations''. In 2018 the Universi ...
, writing about style in academic writings, allows for an apostrophe to form plural acronyms "only when an abbreviation contains internal periods or both capital and lowercase letters". Turabian would therefore prefer "DVDs" and "URLs" and "Ph.D.'s", while the
Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...
Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition 2009, subsection 3.2.7.g explicitly says, "do not use an apostrophe to form the plural of an abbreviation". Also, the
American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
specifically says,Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 5th Edition 2001, subsection 3.28''Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association'', 6th Edition 2010, subsection 4.29 "without an apostrophe". However, the 1999 style guide for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' states that the addition of an apostrophe is necessary when pluralizing all abbreviations, preferring "PC's, TV's and VCR's". Following those who would generally omit the apostrophe, to form the plural of
run batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...
, simply add an s to the end of RBI. *RBIs For all other rules, see below: To form the plural of an abbreviation, a number, or a capital letter used as a noun, simply add a lowercase ''s'' to the end. Apostrophes following decades and single letters are also common. * A group of MPs * The roaring 20s * Mind your Ps and Qs To indicate the plural of the abbreviation or symbol of a unit of measure, the same form is used as in the singular. * 1 lb or 20 lb * 1 ft or 16 ft * 1 min or 45 min When an abbreviation contains more than one full point, ''Hart's Rules'' recommends putting the ''s'' after the final one. * Ph.D.s * M.Phil.s * the d.t.s However, subject to any house style or consistency requirement, the same plurals may be rendered less formally as: * PhDs * MPhils * the DTs. (This is the recommended form in the ''New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors''.) According to ''Hart's Rules'', an apostrophe may be used in rare cases where clarity calls for it, for example when letters or symbols are referred to as objects. * The x's of the equation * Dot the i's and cross the t's However, the apostrophe can be dispensed with if the items are set in italics or quotes: * The ''x''s of the equation * Dot the 'i's and cross the 't's In Latin, and continuing to the derivative forms in European languages as well as English, single-letter abbreviations had the plural being a doubling of the letter for note-taking. Most of these deal with writing and publishing. A few longer abbreviations use this as well.


Conventions followed by publications and newspapers


United States

Publications based in the U.S. tend to follow the style guides of '' The Chicago Manual of Style'' and the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...
. The U.S. Government follows a style guide published by the
U.S. Government Printing Office The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO; formerly the United States Government Printing Office) is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States Federal government. The office produces and distributes information ...
. The
National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical s ...
sets the style for abbreviations of units.


United Kingdom

Many British publications follow some of these guidelines in abbreviation: * For the sake of convenience, many British publications, including the BBC and ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'', have completely done away with the use of full stops or periods in all abbreviations. These include: ** Social titles, e.g. Ms or Mr (though these would usually have not had full stops—see above) Capt, Prof, ''etc.;'' ** Two-letter abbreviations for countries (''"US"'', not ''"U.S."''); ** Abbreviations beyond three letters (full caps for all except initialisms); ** Words seldom abbreviated with lower case letters (''"PR"'', instead of ''"p.r."'', or ''"pr"'') ** Names (''"FW de Klerk"'', ''"GB Whiteley"'', ''"Park JS"''). A notable exception is ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' which writes ''"Mr F. W. de Klerk"''. ** Scientific units (see Measurement below). * Acronyms are often referred to with only the first letter of the abbreviation capitalized. For instance, the
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two Nor ...
can be abbreviated as ''"Nato"'' or ''"NATO"'', and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome as ''"Sars"'' or ''"SARS"'' (compare with ''"
laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The ...
"'' which has made the full transition to an English word and is rarely capitalised at all). * Initialisms are always written in capitals; for example the ''"British Broadcasting Corporation"'' is abbreviated to ''"BBC"'', never ''"Bbc"''. An initialism is also an acronym but is not pronounced as a word. * When abbreviating scientific units, no space is added between the number and unit (100mph, 100m, 10cm, 10°C). (This is contrary to the SI standard; see below.)


Miscellaneous and general rules

* A doubled letter appears in abbreviations of some Welsh names, as in
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
the double "l" is a separate sound: "Ll. George" for (British prime minister)
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...
. * Some titles, such as "Reverend" and "Honourable", are spelt out when preceded by "the", rather than as "Rev." or "Hon." respectively. This is true for most British publications, and some in the United States. * A repeatedly used abbreviation should be spelt out for identification on its first occurrence in a written or spoken passage. Abbreviations likely to be unfamiliar to many readers should be avoided.


Measurements: abbreviations or symbols

Writers often use shorthand to denote units of measure. Such shorthand can be an abbreviation, such as "in" for "
inch Measuring tape with inches The inch (symbol: in or ″) is a unit of length in the British imperial and the United States customary systems of measurement. It is equal to yard or of a foot. Derived from the Roman uncia ("twelfth ...
" or can be a symbol such as "km" for "
kilometre The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ...
" (or kilometer). In the
International System of Units The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. ...
(SI) manual the word "symbol" is used consistently to define the shorthand used to represent the various SI units of measure. The manual also defines the way in which units should be written, the principal rules being: *The conventions for upper and lower case letters must be observed—for example 1 MW (megawatts) is equal to 1,000,000
watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...
s and 1,000,000,000 mW (milliwatts). *No periods should be inserted between letters—for example "m.s" (which is an approximation of "m·s", which correctly uses middle dot) is the symbol for "metres multiplied by seconds", but "ms" is the symbol for milliseconds. *No periods should follow the symbol unless the syntax of the sentence demands otherwise (for example a full stop at the end of a sentence). *The singular and plural versions of the symbol are identical—not all languages use the letter "s" to denote a plural.


Syllabic abbreviation

A syllabic abbreviation is usually formed from the initial syllables of several words, such as ''
Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cr ...
'' = ''International'' + ''police''. It is a variant of the acronym. Syllabic abbreviations are usually written using
lower case Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...
, sometimes starting with a
capital letter Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writin ...
, and are always pronounced as words rather than letter by letter. Syllabic abbreviations should be distinguished from
portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsMigjeni'' – an abbreviation from his original name (''Millosh Gjergj Nikolla'') a famous Albanian poet and writer – or '' ASDRENI'' (''Aleksander Stavre Drenova''), another famous Albanian poet. Other such names which are used commonly in recent decades are GETOAR, composed from ''
Gegeria Northern Albania ( sq, Shqipëria Veriore) is one of the three NUTS-2 Regions of Albania. This ethnographical territory is sometimes referred to as ''Ghegeria'' ( sq, Gegëria) which also includes parts of the Albanian-inhabited territories of ...
'' + ''
Tosks Tosks ( sq, Toskët) are one of two major dialectal subgroups of Albanians (the other being the Ghegs) differentiated by their cultural, linguistic, social and religious characteristics. Territory ''Tosk'' may refer to the Tosk-speaking Alb ...
'' (representing the two main dialects of the Albanian language, Gegë and Toskë, based on the country's two main regions Gegëria and Toskëria, and ' Arbanon'' - which is an alternative way used to describe all Albanian lands.


English

Syllabic abbreviations are not widely used in English. Some UK government agencies such as
Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
(''Office of Communications'') and the former Oftel (''Office of Telecommunications'') use this style.
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
has various neighborhoods named by syllabic abbreviation, such as Tribeca (''Triangle below Canal Street'') and
SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...
(''South of Houston Street''). This usage has spread into other American cities, giving
SoMa Soma may refer to: Businesses and brands * SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects * Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems * SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...
, San Francisco (''South of Market'') and
LoDo, Denver LoDo (Lower Downtown) is an unofficial neighborhood in Denver, Colorado, and is one of the oldest places of settlement in the city. It is a mixed-use historic district, known for its nightlife, and serves as an example of success in urban reinve ...
(''Lower Downtown''), amongst others.
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
-based electric service provider ComEd is a syllabic abbreviation of (''Commonwealth'') and (Thomas) ''Edison''. Sections of
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
are also often colloquially syllabically abbreviated, as in NorCal (''Northern California''), CenCal (''Central California''), and SoCal (''Southern California''). Additionally, in the context of Los Angeles, California, the Syllabic abbreviation SoHo (Southern Hollywood) refers to the southern portion of the
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...
neighborhood. Partially syllabic abbreviations are preferred by the US Navy, as they increase readability amidst the large number of initialisms that would otherwise have to fit into the same acronyms. Hence '' DESRON 6'' is used (in the full capital form) to mean "Destroyer Squadron 6", while '' COMNAVAIRLANT'' would be "Commander, Naval Air Force (in the) Atlantic." Syllabic abbreviations are a prominent feature of Newspeak, the fictional language of
George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalit ...
's dystopian novel '' Nineteen Eighty-Four''. The political contractions of Newspeak—''Ingsoc'' (English Socialism), ''Minitrue'' (Ministry of Truth), ''Miniplenty'' (
Ministry of Plenty The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. The use of contradict ...
)—are described by Orwell as similar to real examples of German ''(
q.v. } (right to left). , - , ''quo errat demonstrator'', , where the prover errs, , A pun on " quod erat demonstrandum" , - , ''quo fata ferunt'', , where the fates bear us to, , motto of Bermuda , - , ''quo non ascendam'' , , to what heights can I ...
)'' and Russian contractions (''
q.v. } (right to left). , - , ''quo errat demonstrator'', , where the prover errs, , A pun on " quod erat demonstrandum" , - , ''quo fata ferunt'', , where the fates bear us to, , motto of Bermuda , - , ''quo non ascendam'' , , to what heights can I ...
)'' in the 20th century. Like ''Nazi'' (''Nationalsozialismus'') and ''Gestapo'' (''Geheime Staatspolizei''), ''politburo'' ( Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), ''Comintern'' (Communist International), '' kolkhoz'' (
collective farm Collective farming and communal farming are various types of, "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...
), and ''Komsomol'' (Young Communists' League), the contractions in Newspeak are supposed to have a political function by virtue of their abbreviated structure itself: nice sounding and easily pronounceable, their purpose is to mask all ideological content from the speaker. A more recent syllabic abbreviation has emerged with the disease
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
''(COrona VIrus Disease 2019)'' caused by the
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...
virus (itself frequently abbreviated to
SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...
, partly an initialism).


German

Syllabic abbreviations were and are common in
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
; much like acronyms in English, they have a distinctly modern connotation, although contrary to popular belief, many date back to before
1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...
, if not the end of the Great War. ''Kriminalpolizei'', literally ''criminal police'' but idiomatically the Criminal Investigation Department of any German police force, begat ''KriPo'' (variously capitalised), and likewise ''Schutzpolizei'', the ''protection police'' or ''uniform department'', begat ''SchuPo''. Along the same lines, the Swiss Federal Railways' Transit Police—the ''Transportpolizei''—are abbreviated as the ''TraPo''. With the National Socialist German Workers' Party gaining power came a frenzy of government reorganisation, and with it a series of entirely new syllabic abbreviations. The single national police force amalgamated from the ''Schutzpolizeien'' of the various states became the ''Ordnungspolizei'' or "order police"; the state KriPos together formed the ''Sicherheitspolizei'' or "security police"; and there was also the
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
(''Geheime Staatspolizei'') or "secret state police". The new order of the
German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...
in the east brought about a conscious
denazification Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...
, but also a repudiation of earlier turns of phrase in favour of neologisms such as ''
Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maintaining state autho ...
'' for ''Staatssicherheit'' ("state security", the secret police) and ''VoPo'' for ''Volkspolizei''. The phrase ''politisches Büro'', which may be rendered literally as ''office of politics'' or idiomatically as ''political party steering committee'', became ''
Politbüro A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
''. Syllabic abbreviations are not only used in politics, however. Many business names, trademarks, and service marks from across Germany are created on the same pattern: for a few examples, there is
Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when ...
, from ''Theo Albrecht'', the name of its founder, followed by ''discount'';
Haribo Haribo ( ) is a German confectionery company founded by Hans Riegel Sr.. It began in Kessenich, Bonn, Germany. The name "Haribo" is a syllabic abbreviation formed from Hans Riegel Bonn. The company created the first gummy candy in 1960 in the ...
, from ''Hans Riegel'', the name of its founder, followed by ''Bonn'', the town of its head office; and
Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacture ...
, from ''Adolf "Adi" Dassler'', the nickname of its founder followed by his surname.


Russian

Syllabic abbreviations are very common in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. They are often used as names of organizations. Historically, popularization of abbreviations was a way to simplify mass-education in 1920s (see
Likbez Likbez (russian: ликбе́з, ; from a Russian abbreviation for russian: ликвида́ция безгра́мотности, translit=likvidatsiya bezgramotnosti, label=none, , meaning "elimination of illiteracy") was a campaign of eradicat ...
). Leninist organisations such as the ''
Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...
'' (''Communist International'') and ''
Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...
'' (''Kommunisticheskii Soyuz Molodyozhi'', or "Communist youth union") used Russian language syllabic abbreviations. In the modern Russian language, words like ''Rosselkhozbank'' (from Rossiysky selskokhozyaystvenny bank —
Russian Agricultural Bank Russian Agricultural Bank (russian: Россельхозбанк) (RusAg) is a 100% state-owned bank regulated by the Bank of Russia. RusAg is providing lending support to Russian agribusiness. History Modern agribusiness production systems are c ...
, RusAg) and ''Minobrnauki'' (from Ministerstvo obrazovaniya i nauki — Ministry of Education and Science) are still commonly used. In nearby
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
, there are ''Beltelecom'' (Belarus Telecommunication) and Belsat (Belarus Satellite).


Spanish

Syllabic abbreviations are common in Spanish; examples abound in organization names such as
Pemex Pemex (a portmanteau of Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to ''Mexican Petroleum'' in English; ) is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company managed and operated by the Mexican government. It was formed in 1938 by nationalization and expr ...
for ''Petróleos Mexicanos'' ("Mexican Petroleums") or Fonafifo for ''Fondo Nacional de Financimiento Forestal'' (National Forestry Financing Fund).


Malay and Indonesian

In Southeast Asian languages, especially in Malay languages, syllabic abbreviations are also common; examples include
Petronas Petroliam Nasional Berhad (National Petroleum Limited), commonly known as Petronas, is a Malaysian petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company. Established in 1974 and wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested w ...
(for ''Petroliam Nasional'', "National Petroleum"), its Indonesian equivalent
Pertamina PT Pertamina (Persero), formerly abbreviated from ''Perusahaan Pertambangan Minyak dan Gas Bumi Negara'' (lit. 'State Oil and Natural Gas Mining Company'), is an Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation based in Jakarta. It was c ...
(from its original name ''Perusahaan Pertambangan Minyak dan Gas Bumi Negara'', "State Oil and Natural Gas Mining Company"), and Kemenhub (from ''Kementerian Perhubungan'', "Ministry of Transportation")


Chinese and Japanese kanji

East Asian languages whose writing systems use
Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...
form abbreviations similarly by using key Chinese characters from a term or phrase. For example, in Japanese the term for the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
, ''kokusai rengō'' (国際連合) is often abbreviated to ''kokuren'' (国連). (Such abbreviations are called ryakugo (略語) in Japanese; see also Japanese abbreviated and contracted words). The syllabic abbreviation of
kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...
words is frequently used for universities: for instance, ''Tōdai'' (東大) for ''Tōkyō daigaku'' (東京大学, University of Tokyo) and is used similarly in Chinese: ''Běidà'' (北大) for ''Běijīng Dàxué'' (北京大学,
Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charte ...
). The English phrase "
Gung ho ''Gung ho'' () is an English term, with the current meaning of "overly enthusiastic or energetic". It originated during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) from a Chinese term, ( zh, hp=gōnghé, l=to work together), short for Chinese I ...
" originated as a Chinese abbreviation.


See also

*
Abbreviation (music) Abbreviations in music are of two kinds, namely, abbreviations of terms related to musical expression, and the true musical abbreviations by the help of which certain passages, chords, etc., may be notated in a shortened form, to the greater con ...
* Clipping (morphology) * Gramogram * List of abbreviations used in medical prescriptions * List of abbreviations in photography *
List of acronyms Lists of acronyms contain acronyms, a type of abbreviation formed from the initial components of the words of a longer name or phrase. They are organized alphabetically and by field. Alphabetical * List of acronyms: 0–9 * List of acronyms: A ...
* List of business and finance abbreviations *
List of classical abbreviations The following list contains a selection from the Latin abbreviations that occur in the writings and inscriptions of the Romans. A *A. – ''Absolvo, Actum, Aedilis, Aes, Aedilis, Ager, Ago, Aio, Amicus, Annus, Antiquo, Auctor, Auditor, Au ...
*
List of medieval abbreviations Examples of sigla in use in the Middle Ages: A *ā—'' annus'' or ''aut.'' *á—''aut''. *Ắ—'' Antiphona''. *a'—'' antiphona'' or ''autem''. *a.—'' annus''. *A.—''Accursius'' or ''Albericus''. *A:—''Amen''. *ab.—'' Abbas ...
* List of portmanteaus *
Neologism A neologism Ancient_Greek.html"_;"title="_from_Ancient_Greek">Greek_νέο-_''néo''(="new")_and_λόγος_/''lógos''_meaning_"speech,_utterance"is_a_relatively_recent_or_isolated_term,_word,_or_phrase_that_may_be_in_the_process_of_entering_com ...
*
Numeronym A numeronym is a number-based word. Most commonly, a numeronym is a word where a number is used to form an abbreviation (albeit not an acronym or an initialism). Pronouncing the letters and numbers may sound similar to the full word, as in " K9" ( ...
* RAS syndrome * SMS language * The abbreviations used in the 1913 edition of Webster's dictionary * Unicode alias names and abbreviations


Notes


References


External links

* * {{Authority control