What is an Acronym?
An acronym is an abbreviation that consists of the first letters of a group of words. They are pronounced as full words.
For example:
- NASA is an acronym for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The acronym “NASA” is formed from the first letter of all words in “National Aeronautics and Space Administrations” and is pronounced as “na-suh.”
The word “acronym” has a Greek origin: acr- means “height or tip,” and –onym refers to “name.” Acronyms have existed throughout history but became popular in the 20th century. Even today, many acronyms are commonly used while speaking, and writing.
The following section will discuss more examples of acronyms to help one understand the concept better.
Examples of Acronyms
Acronyms usually replace a string of words as they are made up of only those words’ initials. They are also always spelled in caps. Here are some examples of acronyms with their expanded forms:
| HR | Human Resources |
| AIDS | Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome |
| MBA | Master of Business Administration |
| ICU | Intensive Care Unit |
| PIN | Personal Identification Number |
| CEO | Chief Executive Officer |
| FAQ | Frequently Asked Questions |
| SCUBA | Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus |
Acronyms are also a part of everyday communication. They are integral to computer studies, government organizations, and even medicine. Here are some relevant examples:
| ETA | Estimated Time of Arrival |
| MLA | Modern Language Association |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator |
| RAM | Random Access Memory |
| SWOT (as in SWOT analysis) | Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats |
Acronym vs. Abbreviation vs. Initialism
Acronyms are often confused with abbreviations and initialism, but the three terms are different.
Initialisms and acronyms are two types of abbreviations. Unlike acronyms, abbreviations are not necessarily formed from the initial letters of words. Here is an example:
- Professor David was walking toward the library.
- Prof. David was walking toward the library.
Prof. is an abbreviation of the word “professor.” Notice that the abbreviation here ends with a period.
Other examples of abbreviated personal titles are doctor (Dr.), junior (Jr.), Mister (Mr.), and so on. MPH/mph is an abbreviation for miles per hour and is pronounced as “em pee aitch” (not as a single word). Here, the abbreviation is formed from the initial letters of the word (i.e., MPH).
With respect to the usage of periods, abbreviations don’t use a strict rule. Some abbreviations have periods while some don’t. Some abbreviations can be written both with or without periods. For example, the abbreviation for “United States of America” is “USA,” which is also written as U.S.A. (i.e., with periods). Acronyms, on the other hand, don’t have periods and are always written in caps.
Abbreviations are also read differently than acronyms; DOB is an abbreviation for date of birth and is pronounced as letters D, O, and B and not as the word “dawb.” For the acronym RADAR ( RAdio Detecting And Ranging), the pronunciation is “ray-daar” and not the individual letters R, A, D, A, R.
Acronyms and initialisms are actually types of abbreviations. But they differ in their pronunciation and writing. An initialism is a type of abbreviation that uses the first letters of words in a phrase and is pronounced one letter at a time. Here is an example:
- FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation
FBI is pronounced as “ef bee eye” and not as a word, thus making it initialism.
DNA, which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, is an initialism. It is not pronounced as a word but instead as letters “dee-en-aey.” So it’s fair to say that all acronyms are initialisms, but not all initialisms are acronyms. An abbreviation, on the other hand, is an umbrella term for both acronyms and initialism.
How to Use Acronyms
Depending on the style guide being used, such as MLA and APA, there are various pointers to look for while using acronyms in a document.
For both the MLA and APA formats, an acronym is always expanded at its first instance, unless it’s a very common one such as FBI or CIA.
For example:
- The bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was found within the cells observed.
- This DNA was extracted further.
If an acronym first appears in a footnote, figure, or table, it is expanded again at its first instance within the main body of the document. If a document contains many acronyms, a separate list is included at the end. Acronyms are not used for names or titles that occur only once or twice in a document. However, if the entity referred to is better known by its acronym, it is preferable to include it even if the name occurs only once in the document.
Here are some general pointers to follow while using acronyms:
- Select acronyms that are familiar to readers.
- Explain acronyms to all readers mostly at the first instance in a document.
- Make sure that correct acronyms are used, especially for government organizations.
- Avoid plural and possessive forms of acronyms.
Acronyms make reading and writing simpler. They help in avoiding repetition of words and meeting word-count targets, thus making any text easy to read. Acronyms also help to memorize a word. In writing, they save space by shortening lengthy words such as names of organizations. Overall, they are important in linguistics.
