acronym

An acronym is a word formed by abbreviating a phrase by combining certain letters of words in the phrase (often the first initial of each) into a single term.

Common examples of acronyms include NASA (an acronym for National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and FOMO (a slang acronym for fear of missing out). The word scuba comes from an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.

Although acronym is sometimes used generally to refer to any term formed from this kind of abbreviation, it typically refers to ones that can be pronounced as a word. This is sometimes contrasted with an initialism.

What’s the difference between an acronym and an initialism?

Initialism is sometimes used as a synonym for acronym, but most technically it refers to an abbreviation in which each initial is pronounced separately (instead of pronouncing them together as a single word, as in scuba or NASA). For example, FBI is an initialism of Federal Bureau of Investigation; TMI is an initialism of too much information.

Acronyms are often associated with their use in certain fields that use a lot of technical terms, like science, tech, and the military. But they’re popular in all kinds of contexts since they’re an easy way to make long phrases much shorter.

Example: STEM is an acronym that stands for “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.”

The first records of the word acronym come from the 1940s. It comes from a combination of acr- (a variant of acro–, meaning “tip end” and referring to using the first letters of each word in a phrase) and –onym, meaning “name” (as seen in words like synonym, antonym, and pseudonym).

Some common words started as acronyms: radar comes from an acronym for radio detection and ranging; laser comes from an acronym for lightwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. As you can see in these two terms, acronyms are not always formed from just the first initial of each word, and not every word in the phrase always contributes a letter. There aren’t any strict rules—acronyms are typically formed in whatever way results in a word that’s easy to say.

This is the most technical sense of acronym—an abbreviation pronounced as a word. But it’s often used in a more general way to refer to any abbreviation, such as common text and chat abbreviations like brb and ttyl. These are more technically called initialisms.

Some abbreviations can be pronounced both as single words and letter-by-letter. For example, ASAP (for as soon as possible) is commonly pronounced A-S-A-P, but it can also be pronounced AY-sap. Still, terms like brb, ttyl, and ASAP are commonly thought of as acronyms.

Acronyms are commonly used to abbreviate organization names, but they’re used in all different contexts, including science, the military, government, slang, and pop culture.

Sometimes, people try to claim that a word actually came from an acronym when it really didn’t. This is called a backronym. Popular examples include the word posh, which is said to come from the phrase port out, starboard home, and tag, which is said to be an acronym for touch and go. Neither of these are true.

What are some other forms related to acronym?

• acronymic (adjective)
• acronymous (adjective)
• acronymically (adverb)

What are some synonyms for acronym?

• abbreviation

What are some words that share a root or word element with acronym? 

• synonym
• antonym
• pseudonym
• homonym
• anonymous
• acrophobia

What are some words that often get used in discussing acronym?

• first
• initial
• letter
• word
• pronounce
• jargon
• technical

What are some words acronym may be commonly confused with?

• initialism

Acronyms are used in all kinds of contexts. People sometimes criticize government agencies and other organizations for using too many acronyms, since it can be hard to know what they all mean.

You've heard of STEM?

Well, I propose we now work for the inclusion of LEAF.

Literature, Economics, Anthropology, and Futures.

Hey, we're all part of the same plant, right?

What's your disciplinary acronym?

— Left Field Notes (@Manigarm) December 29, 2019

Tweet us an alphabet soup sentence loaded with acronyms and abbreviations. We'll award the best (or worst?) a Stylebook Online subscription.

— APStylebook (@APStylebook) December 20, 2016

I’m queen of shortening words. I’ve done it as far back as I can remember & shorten things that don’t even need to be shortened. BUT these youngsters got me all hung up trying to figure out the acronyms these days. Ex: It took me til 9pm on Mon of MDW to figure out what MDW meant

— Tiera Joy ✨ (@TieraBolt) May 26, 2020

True or False? 

Acronym and initialism always mean the same exact thing.