Dictionaries don\u2019t all agree on the definitions of these words and neither do style manuals. So we will attempt to shed more light on the distinctions.<\/p>\n
Abbreviations<\/strong> Initialisms<\/strong> and acronyms<\/strong> are two types of abbreviations that are used to shorten phrases.<\/p>\n Initialisms<\/strong> are abbreviations that are pronounced one letter at a time. Acronyms<\/strong> are abbreviations that are pronounced as words by using primary starting letters of the words in the abbreviated phrase. Do you ever wonder about the origin of a word or when it came to be a common part of the language? According to Ask.com, the word acronym<\/em> originated in 1943: \u201cAs wartime production of names using initials reached an all-time high, it was high time to give a name to the growing arsenal of alphabetic abbreviations. That need was met in a note in the February 1943 issue of American Notes and Queries<\/em>: ‘Your correspondent who asks about words made up of the initial letters or syllables of other words may be interested in knowing that I have seen such words called by the name acronym<\/em>, which is useful, and clear to anyone who knows a little Greek.’ ”<\/p>\n \u201cGreek?” Yes, acronym<\/em> follows the model of other designations for types of words, such as synonym, antonym, and homonym<\/em>. The -nym<\/em> means “a kind of word”; acro-<\/em> means “top, peak, or initial,” as in acrobat<\/em> or acrophobia<\/em>.<\/p>\n In step with our observation about differences among dictionaries and style manuals, the Oxford English Dictionary<\/em> offers two definitions of “acronym”:<\/p>\n As the two diverging definitions suggest, even leading language authorities are not resolute on the subject. While you may continue to come across such variances for acronym\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0initialism,<\/em> you can aim for precision within your own understanding and use by applying the differentiations that we’ve discussed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dictionaries don\u2019t all agree on the definitions of these words and neither do style manuals. So we will attempt to shed more light on the distinctions. Abbreviations According to Dictionary.com, an abbreviation is a shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole, as Dr. for Doctor, U.S. for United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abbreviations"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7183,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions\/7183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAccording to Dictionary.com, an abbreviation is a shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase, used to represent the whole, as Dr.<\/em> for Doctor<\/em>, U.S.<\/em> for United States<\/em>, lb.<\/em> for pound<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\nExamples:<\/strong>
\n– FBI
\n– HTML
\n– IBM
\n– DVD
\n– BTW (by the way)
\nNote that most people would simply call these abbreviations, which is fine. Some would call them acronyms, which sticklers would challenge.<\/p>\n
\nExamples:<\/strong>
\n– NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
\n– AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
\n– OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)
\n– SPA (Society of Professional Accountants)
\n– ASAP (as soon as possible)
\n– Radar (radio detecting and ranging)
\n– Scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus)<\/p>\n\n