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An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing period. For example, the term etc. is the usual abbreviation for the Latin phrase et cetera.
An initialism or acronym is an abbreviation consisting of the initial letter of a sequence of words without other punctuation. For example, FBI (), United States (), IBM (), BBC (). When initialism is used as the preferred term, acronym refers more specifically to when the abbreviation is pronounced as a word rather than as separate letters; examples include SWAT and NASA.
Initialisms, contractions and crasis share some semantic and phonetic functions, and are connected by the term abbreviation in loose parlance.
Reduction of a word to a single letter was common in both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome writing. 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 ager, amicus, annus, as, Aulus, Aurelius, aurum, and avus.)" (2025). 9780816074822, Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9780816074822 Many frequent abbreviations consisted of more than one letter: for example COS for consul and COSS for its nominative case etc. plural consules.
Abbreviations were frequently used in early English language. Manuscripts of copies of the Old English poem Beowulf 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 were replaced with , as in for master and 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 was used for th, as in ('the'). In modern times, was often used (in the form ) for promotional reasons, as in .Lass, R., The Cambridge History of the English Language, Cambridge University Press, 2006, Vol. 2, p. 36.
During the growth of philology linguistic theory in academic Britain, abbreviating became very fashionable. Likewise, a century earlier in Boston, a fad of abbreviation started that swept the United States, with the globally popular term Okay 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 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 SMS language, with which 10% or more of the words in a typical SMS message are abbreviated.Crystal, David. . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. More recently Twitter, a popular social networking service, began driving abbreviation use with 140 character message limits.
In HTML, abbreviations can be annotated using
Some controversies that arise are described below.
According to Hart's Rules, a word shortened by dropping letters from the end terminates with a period, whereas a word shorted by dropping letters from the middle does not. Fowler's Modern English Usage says a period is used for both of these shortened forms, but recommends against this practice: advising it only for end-shortened words and lower-case initialisms; not for middle-shortened words and upper-case initialisms.
Some British style guides, such as for The Guardian and The Economist, disallow periods for all abbreviations.
In American English, 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:
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, radar, lidar, laser, SNAFU, and Scuba set.
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.
In the past, some initialisms were styled with a period after each letter and a space between each pair. For example, U. S., but today this is typically US.
However, the 1999 style guide for The New York Times states that the addition of an apostrophe is necessary when pluralizing all abbreviations, preferring "PC's, TV's and VCR's".Siegal, AM., Connolly, WG., The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, Three Rivers Press, 1999, p. 24.
Forming a plural of an initialization without an apostrophe can also be used for a number, or a letter. Examples:
For units of measure, the same form is used for both singular and plural. Examples:
When an abbreviation contains more than one period, Hart's Rules recommends putting the s after the final one. Examples:
However, the same plurals may be rendered less formally as:
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.
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.
In the International System of Units (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:
New York City has various neighborhoods named by syllabic abbreviation, such as Tribeca (Triangle below Canal Street) and SoHo (South of Houston Street). This usage has spread into other American cities, giving SoMa, San Francisco (South of Market), and LoDo, Denver (Lower Downtown), amongst others.
Chicago-based electric service provider ComEd is a syllabic abbreviation of Commonwealth and (Thomas) Edison.
Sections of California 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, the syllabic abbreviation SoHo (Southern Hollywood) refers to the southern portion of the Hollywood 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's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The political contractions of Newspeak— Ingsoc (English Socialism), Minitrue (Ministry of Truth), Miniplenty (Ministry of Plenty)—are described by Orwell as similar to real examples of German (see below) and Russian ( see below) contractions in the 20th century. 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 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) caused by the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (itself frequently abbreviated to SARS-CoV-2, partly an initialism).
Other such names which are used commonly in recent decades are GETOAR, composed from Gegeria + Tosks (representing the two main dialects of the Albanian language, Gegë and Toskë), and Arbanon—which is an alternative way used to describe all Albanian lands.
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 OrPo (Ordnungspolizei, "order police"); the state KriPos together formed the "SiPo" (Sicherheitspolizei, "security police"); and there was also the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei, "secret state police"). The new order of the German Democratic Republic in the east brought about a conscious denazification, but also a repudiation of earlier turns of phrase in favour of neologisms such as Stasi 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 Politburo]].
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, from Theo Albrecht, the name of its founder, followed by discount; Haribo, from Hans Riegel, the name of its founder, followed by Bonn, the town of its head office; and Adidas, from /" itemprop="url" title="Wiki: Adi Dassler">Adi Dassler, the nickname of its founder followed by his surname.
Leninist organisations such as the Comintern ( Communist International) and Komsomol ( 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, RusAg) and Minobrnauki (from Ministerstvo obrazovaniya i nauki — Ministry of Education and Science) are still commonly used. In nearby Belarus, there are Beltelecom (Belarus Telecommunication) and Belsat (Belarus Satellite).
Malaysian abbreviation often uses letters from each word, while Indonesia usually uses syllables; although some cases do not follow the style. For example, general elections in Malaysian Malay often shortened into PRU ( pilihan raya umum) while Indonesian often shortened into pemilu ( pemilihan umum). Another example is Ministry of Health in which Malaysian Malay uses KKM ( Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia), compared to Indonesian Kemenkes ( Kementerian Kesehatan).
(2025). 9780191727078, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191727078
Doctor mid Dr D——r Professor end Prof. Prof... Reverend end Rev. Rev... Reverend mid Revd Rev——d The Right Honourable mid and end Rt Hon. R——t Hon...
Plural
There are multiple ways to pluralize an abbreviation. Sometimes this accomplished by adding an apostrophe and an s (), as in "two PC's have broken screens". But, some find this confusing since the notation can indicate possessive case. And, this style is deprecated by many style guides. For instance, Kate Turabian, 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". For example, "DVDs" and "URLs" and "Ph.D.'s", while the Modern Language AssociationModern 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 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 apostrophe can be dispensed with if the items are set in italics or quotes:
d. didot dd. typography f. following line or page ff. notes F. folio Ff. literature h. hand hh. horse height J. Justice JJ. law (job title) l. line ll. notes MS manuscript MSS notes op. opus (plural: opera) opp. notes p. page pp. notes Q. quarto Qq. literature s. (or §) section ss. (or §§) notes v. volume vv. notes
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 U.S. government follows a style guide published by the U.S. Government Printing Office. The National Institute of Standards and Technology sets the style for abbreviations of units.
United Kingdom
Many British publications follow some of these guidelines in abbreviation:
Miscellaneous and general rules
Measurements: abbreviations or symbols
Writers often use shorthand to denote units of measure. Such shorthand can be an abbreviation, such as "in" for "inch" or can be a symbol such as "km" for "kilometre".
Syllabic abbreviation
A syllabic abbreviation is usually formed from the initial syllables of several words, such as Interpol = International + police. It is a variant of the acronym. Syllabic abbreviations are usually written using lower case, sometimes starting with a capital letter, and are always pronounced as words rather than letter by letter. Syllabic abbreviations should be distinguished from , which combine two words without necessarily taking whole syllables from each.
English
Syllabic abbreviations are not widely used in English. Some UK government agencies such as Ofcom (Office of Communications) and the former Oftel (Office of Telecommunications) use this style.
Albanian
In Albanian, syllabic acronyms are sometimes used for composing a person's name, such as Migjeni—an abbreviation from his original name ( Millosh Gjergj Nikolla) a famous Albanian poet and writer—or ASDRENI ( Aleksander Stavre Drenova), another famous Albanian poet.
German
Syllabic abbreviations were and are common in German language; much like acronyms in English, they have a distinctly modern connotation, although contrary to popular belief, many date back to before 1933, 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 ( protection police or uniform department) begat SchuPo. Along the same lines, the Swiss Federal Railways' Transit Police—the Transportpolizei—are abbreviated as the TraPo.
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). The word kolkhoz ( kollektívnoye khozyáystvo, collective farm) is another example.
Spanish
Syllabic abbreviations are common in Spanish; examples abound in organization names such as Pemex for Petróleos Mexicanos ("Mexican Petroleums") or Fonafifo for Fondo Nacional de Financimiento Forestal (National Forestry Financing Fund). El Banco Nacional de México, S.A. ("Banamex"), Teléfonos de México, S.A.B. de C.V. ("TELMEX"), Operadora de Cinemas, S.A. de C.V. ("Cinemex")
Malay and Indonesian
In Southeast Asian languages, especially in Malay languages, abbreviations are common; examples include Petronas (for Petroliam Nasional, "National Petroleum"), its Indonesian equivalent Pertamina (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 form abbreviations similarly by using key Chinese characters from a term or phrase. For example, in Japanese the term for the United Nations, 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 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). Korean universities often follow the same conventions, such as Hongdae (홍대) as short for Hongik Daehakgyo, or Hongik University. The English phrase "Gung ho" originated as a Chinese abbreviation.
See also
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