How to use abbreviations correctly?
When you use an abbreviation, follow these guidelines:
- Provide the full form of an abbreviation at first use. ...
- Remember that using too many abbreviations can make text difficult to read.
- Follow accepted conventions related to capitalization and the use of periods in abbreviations.
- Pluralize abbreviations by adding s (without an apostrophe).
How to properly abbreviate?
- United States and United Kingdom: 1,000,000
- Switzerland: 1′000′000
- Germany and other European countries: 1.000.000
- Russia: 1˙234˙567
- China: 100,0000 or 100万0000
- France and Australia: 1 000 000
- Austria (historically, but not currently): 1,000.000
- India (some systems) 10,00,000
What is the difference between an abbreviation and an acronym?
abbreviation OR acronym?
- Shortenings
- Contractions
- Initialisms. An initialism is an abbreviation made from the initial (first) letters of a group of words. ...
What does abbreviation do mean?
What does Nato stand for? Nato stands for the North Atlantic ... did not roll back its forces from eastern Europe. He said: “Do you want France to fight with Russia? That’s what will happen.
What is an abbreviation and examples?
Definition of abbreviation 1 : a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in place of the whole word or phrase "Amt" is an abbreviation for "amount." "USA" is an abbreviation of "United States of America."
What are the 10 abbreviations?
10 abbreviations and meaning in englishLOL: laugh out loud.OMG: Oh my God.ILY: I love you.TTYS: Talk to you soon.HMB: Hit me back.PTFO: Passed the f** out.ASL: Age/Sex/Location.AFAIK: As far as I know.More items...
What are the 5 types of abbreviation?
According to Schendl (2001: 28-29) abbreviation consists of five types; they are:Clipping word. Clipping word, syllable is cut off from a word. ... Blends. Blends are formed from the part of existing words and a combination of the parts of two words. ... Acronym. ... Initialism. ... Contraction. ... Clipping word. ... Acronym. ... Initialism.More items...
Is LOL an acronym or abbreviation?
LOLLOL / Short name
What are famous abbreviations?
Commonly used acronymsAcronymsMeaningTGIFThank God It's FridayTMIToo Much InformationTTYLTalk To You LaterTYVMThank You Very Much29 more rows
What are popular abbreviations?
Common text abbreviationsROFL: Rolling on floor laughing.STFU: Shut the *swear word!* up.ICYMI: In case you missed it.TL;DR: Too long, didn't read.LMK: Let me know.NVM: Nevermind.TGIF: Thank goodness it's Friday.TBH: To be honest.More items...•
Why are abbreviations used?
Abbreviations and acronyms are shortened forms of word (s) or phrases (s). They assist in making manuscripts easy to read and understand. Additionally, they help in meeting the strict word-count targets, avoiding the repetition of words, thereby making the text easy to read.
What are types of abbreviation?
There are four different types of abbreviations in English:Initialism.Acronym.Shortening.Contraction.
How do you write abbreviations?
Always write out the first in-text reference to an acronym, followed by the acronym itself written in capital letters and enclosed by parentheses. Subsequent references to the acronym can be made just by the capital letters alone.
What does NVM stand for?
never mindIn social media, never mind is abbreviated NVM (also NM) or lowercase nvm (nm) and is usually used to tersely say "Disregard my last comment."
What does LOML stand for?
love of my lifeLOML is an acronym for "love of my life" and is used to refer to someone that you have a very strong passion for.
What is XD in text?
XD is an emoticon commonly used to symbolise dying from laughter. It represents two closed eyes with the X and mouth with the D.
What is an abbreviation?
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a written word or phrase. Abbreviations may be used to save space and time, to avoid repetition of long words and phrases, or simply to conform to conventional usage.
What is the difference between an acronym and an abbreviation?
Both abbreviation and acronym are used to refer to a shortened form, but an acronym is a shortened form of a phrase and is usually made up of the initial letters of that phrase.
What are the abbreviations for the names of states?
are two capitalized letters, e.g., AR for Arkansas, ME for Maine, and TX for Texas. Acronyms are abbreviations formed from the initial letters of an expanded phrase and usually do not include periods: PR for public relations, CEO for chief executive officer, and BTW for by the way.
What does "amt" mean?
1 : a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in place of the whole word or phrase "Amt" is an abbreviation for "amount.". "USA" is an abbreviation of "United States of America.". 2 : the act or result of abbreviating something : abridgment I know you would not be satisfied with an abbreviation of its contents, and you shall have the whole, ...
How to abbreviate a word?
Phrases are typically abbreviated by using the first letters or initial portions of each word or each important word, usually without any periods. Similarly, a single long word is sometimes abbreviated with the initial letters of component parts of the word. Unlike ordinary abbreviations for single words, which are almost always read as if the word were spelled out (as by reading “Dr.” as “Doctor” and “lb.” as “pound”), abbreviations consisting of initials are usually read as written—either letter by letter or as a single word. An abbreviation that is pronounced letter by letter, like FBI for Federal Bureau of Investigation or DOD for Department of Defense or TV for television, is referred to as an initialism.
What does "abbreviated" mean?
an act of abbreviating; state or result of being abbreviated; reduction in length, duration, etc.; abridgment; summary: His abbreviation of his famous monograph, an enormous endeavor in itself, made an excellent introduction to the volume of collected essays of which he was the editor.
What is the abbreviation for "bird dung"?
As the word is now generally used it is an abbreviation of Pishu Huanu —Bird-dung. Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests | J. J. von Tschudi.
Why are abbreviations important?
Abbreviations may be nearly as old as writing itself; they allow a writer to save time, space, and effort. The cost of materials like parchment, paper, and ink was another major impetus to shorten words and phrases. Even with the invention of the printing press, cost remained important, and printers looked for ways to save space without diluting the message. Many abbreviations have become standard, including abbreviations for days of the week ( Mon., Tues. ) and months of the year ( Jan., Feb. ); common Latin terms ( lb., e.g. ); units of time and measurement ( min., ft. ); titles of individuals ( Mrs., Rev. ); and titles or names of organizations ( NCAA, UNESCO ), government bodies ( SCOTUS, EPA ), and states and cities ( Pa., NYC ).
Why do we use a period in English?
The usual practice in American English is to use a period to end any abbreviation that stands for a single word (for example, assoc. or assn. for association ), whereas in British English the period is typically omitted if the abbreviation includes the last letter of the word. For example, in British writing the word association might be ...
What does GTL stand for?
GTL (Jerseyan, n.)—the abbreviation for the guido way of life, which stands for gym, tanning, laundry.
What does freedom of speech mean?
a short phrase or reduced form used to represent a larger, more complex idea, situation, set of beliefs, etc.: “Freedom of speech” has become an abbreviation for a wealth of debate— and case law—about protesters' rights. The artist presented an abbreviation of line, plane, and curve; she creates breathtaking abstract representations of bodies you expect to leap off the canvas and start dancing.
Why do we use abbreviations?
Abbreviations have a long history, created so that spelling out a whole word could be avoided. This might be done to save time and space, and also to provide secrecy. In both Greece and Rome 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, ⟨A⟩ can be an abbreviation for many words, such as ager, amicus, annus, as, Aulus, Aurelius, aurum and avus .)"
Why should abbreviations be spelt out?
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.
How to pluralize an acronym?
Some writers tend to pluralize abbreviations by adding 's (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, 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 explicitly says, "do not use an apostrophe to form the plural of an abbreviation". Also, the American Psychological Association specifically says, "without an apostrophe".
What is a 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 portmanteaus, which combine two words without necessarily taking whole syllables from each.
What is the abbreviation for SoHo?
Some UK government ministries such as Ofcom ( Office of Communications) and Oftel ( Office of Telecommunications) use this style. New York City has various neighborhoods named by syllabic abbreviation, such as Tribeca ( Triangle below Canal Street) and SoHo ( South of Houston Street ).
What does "abbr" mean in Latin?
An abbreviation (from Latin 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.; ...
What does "in" mean in shorthand?
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 " (or kilometer).
Overview
- An abbreviation is a shortened form of a written word or phrase. Abbreviations may be used to save space and time, to avoid repetition of long words and phrases, or simply to conform to conventional usage.
Different types of abbreviation
History
Style conventions in English
Measurements: abbreviations or symbols
An abbreviation (from Latin 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 al…
Syllabic abbreviation
Acronyms, initialisms, contractions and crasis share some semantic and phonetic 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 (/ˈɛf.biː.aɪ/), USA (/ˌju ˌɛs ˈeɪ/), IBM (/ˈˌʌɪbiːˈɛm/), BBC (/biː biː ˈsiː/)
A contraction is a reduction in size of a word or phrase made by omitting certain of its letters or
See also
Abbreviations have a long history, created so that spelling out a whole word could be avoided. This might be done to save time and space, and also to provide secrecy. In both Greece and Rome 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 …
External links
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. Questions which arise include those in the following subsections.
If the original word was capitalized then the first letter of its abbreviation shoul…