This is a list of common Latin abbreviations. Nearly all the abbreviations below have been adopted by

Modern English Modern English, sometimes called New English (NE) or present-day English (PDE) as opposed to Middle and Old English, is the form of the English language that has been spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England England is a Count ...

. However, with some exceptions (for example, ''versus'' or ''

modus operandi A (often shortened to M.O. or MO) is an individual's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as . Term The term is often used in ...

''), most of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

referent words and phrases are perceived as foreign to English. In a few cases, English referents have replaced the original Latin ones (e.g., "

rest in peace Rest in peace (R.I.P.), a phrase from the Latin (), is sometimes used in traditional Christianity, Christian Church service, services and Christian prayer, prayers, such as in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Methodist denominations, to w ...

" for RIP and "

postscript PostScript (PS) is a page description language and dynamically typed, stack-based programming language. It is most commonly used in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm, but as a Turing complete programming language, it c ...

" for PS). Latin was once the universal academic language in Europe. From the 18th century, authors started using their

mother tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...

s to write

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

s or proceedings. Even when Latin fell out of use, many Latin

abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening (linguistics), shortening, contraction (grammar), contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened for ...

s continued to be used due to their precise simplicity and Latin's status as a learned language.

List of common abbreviations

List of less-common abbreviations and usages

Words and abbreviations that have been in general use but are currently used less often.

Used in biology

* aff. (''affinis''): having affinity with, similar but not identical to * auct. (''

auctorum Auctorum indicates that a name in botany and zoology is used in the sense of subsequent authors, and not in the sense as established by the original author. Its etymology derives from the Latin word for ''of authors'' (genitive plural), and is abbr ...

''): of the authors; indicates that a name is used in the sense of subsequent authors, and not in the sense of the original author * Ca. (

Candidatus In prokaryote nomenclature, ''Candidatus'' (abbreviated ''Ca.''; Latin for "candidate of Roman office") is used to name prokaryotic taxa that are well characterized but yet- uncultured. Contemporary sequencing approaches, such as 16S ribosomal R ...

): for candidate names of organisms that have not been completely accepted * ex. (''exemplar''): example or specimen; plural abbreviated as exx. * f. sp. (''

forma specialis ''Forma specialis'' (plural: ''formae speciales''), abbreviated f. sp. (plural ff. spp.) without italics, is an informal taxonomic grouping allowed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, that is applied to a para ...

''): a special form adapted to a specific host; plural abbreviated as ff. spp. * in coll. (''in collectionem''): in the collection, often followed by the name of a collection or museum * indet. (''indeterminans''): undetermined, unidentified * leg. (''legit''): he/she collected, often followed by the name of the collector * nob. (''nobis''): by us, used to indicate that the writer(s) are the author(s) of a scientific name *

sensu ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

: "in the sense of", used for different groups of organisms * sp. (''

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

''): species (singular); plural also ''species'', abbreviated as spp. * sp. nov. ('' species nova''): new species (singular); plural is ''species novae'', abbreviated as spp. nov. * ssp., subsp. (''

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

''): subspecies (singular); plural is ''subspecies'', abbreviated sspp. or subspp.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Latin Abbreviations * Lists of phrases

Latin language-related lists