Abbreviations and Acronyms

NASA. SCUBA. CIA. FBI. LMAO.

These are acronyms, right?

Not exactly, and that’s what I want to nerd out about with you today.

These words all belong to a bigger category called abbreviations. All of these are shorter versions of the words you would need to say. Imagine having a robust debate with someone else about the policies of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but being unable to use the word "NASA” instead of saying that mouthful every time, and you can get a sense of how useful abbreviations are.

I was under the impression that the difference between an abbreviation and an acronym is that the acronym stands for something else, while an abbreviation simply shortens a word. I though about stuff like those crossword puzzle clues that ask for a state’s name, but it’s shortened to fit into a four letter slot. Imagine Mont, Cali, or Wisc.

It’s definitely true that these are abbreviations, and I had this idea right for most of my life. Acronyms, on the other hand, have very specific additional requirements if an abbreviation wants to get into their club.

First, it has to be more than one word.

Second, it has to make a new word with the first letters of those words.

If we run NASA through this test, we check both boxes right away. “National Aeronautics and Space Administration” is certainly more than one word, and the new acronym (NASA) makes use of the first letters of the words. It doesn’t hurt that it’s easy to say, nor that it begins the same way “National” begins.

That’s usually the case with acronyms, but not always. LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) is an excellent example of this, where “Light Amplification” sounds nothing like the “lay” beginning of the word.

It does have to spell out a word you can say, though. No cheating!

That’s why CIA isn’t an acronym, although it is an abbreviation. So are DOJ, FBI, CDC, and most of those other government abbreviations (not acronyms!). Same goes for DNA, the LHC, HTML, ASAP, and LOL.

Still, if you’re thinking those types of abbreviations deserve their own category, you’re not going to be disappointed to discover that we call these words initialisms. Each of the letters is pronounced individually, like when you ask someone to “RSVP” you, or when you tell someone something “FYI.”

Initialisms have gotten a huge boost thanks to the internet. You might be just as likely to hear someone say “LOL” out loud as to hear them laugh. TL;DR, IMO, and FTW have certainly made recent real-life appearances in my own life, and you’re just as likely to see these initialisms in printed text as you are to see them online.

That’s true of both of the types of abbreviations we’ve covered. Initialisms are where you say each letter out loud, and acronyms are where you form a new word and say that instead; but both are pervasive in our lives—completely inescapable.

There’s a third type of abbreviation that’s neither an initialism nor an acronym, and that’s when you just shorten a word.

Consider words like Dr, St, or Ltd. Unlike with acronyms, you don’t make up a new word and say that—when you see “Dr” typed out, you just say “doctor” aloud in your head; you don’t say “durrrr” instead. And, unlike with an initialism, you don’t say “dee are” either.

To sum everything up, abbreviations are like a parent group that includes initialisms and acronyms. Abbreviations can be shortened words that just truncate the other word, but they can also make up a new word, or they can be a series of letters spoken aloud.

Language is incredible. I can’t get enough of studying where words come from. If you have the bandwidth, you might enjoy looking through these posts I’ve tagged with “etymology.”

What are some of your favorite abbreviations? Are they acronyms, initialisms, or neither of the above?