Editing Abbreviation

{{short description|Shortened form of a word or phrase}}
{{other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2008}}
[[File:Schriftprobe Latein 15 Jh.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Example of 15th-century [[Latin]] manuscript text with [[scribal abbreviation]]s]]

An '''abbreviation''' ({{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|brevis}}|short}})<ref>{{cite web |title=brevis/breve, brevis M |url=https://www.latin-is-simple.com/en/vocabulary/adjective/91/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329120905/https://www.latin-is-simple.com/en/vocabulary/adjective/91/ |archive-date=29 March 2018 |access-date=29 March 2018 |website=Latin is Simple Online Dictionary |language=en}}</ref> is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including [[shortening (linguistics)|shortening]], [[contraction (grammar)|contraction]], [[initialism]] (which includes [[acronym]]), or [[crasis]]. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing period. For example, the term ''etc.'' is the usual abbreviation for the [[list of Latin phrases|Latin phrase]] {{lang|la|[[et cetera]]}}.

==Types==
A ''[[Contraction (grammar)|contraction]]'' is an abbreviation formed by replacing letters with an apostrophe. Examples include ''I'm'' for ''I am'' and ''li'l'' for ''little''.

An ''[[initialism]]'' or ''[[acronym]]'' is an abbreviation consisting of the initial letter of a sequence of words without other punctuation. For example, [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] ([[wiktionary:FBI#Pronunciation|{{IPA|/ˌɛf.biːˈaɪ/|cat=no}}]]), [[United States|USA]] ([[wiktionary:USA#Pronunciation|{{IPA|/ˌjuː.ɛsˈeɪ/|cat=no}}]]), [[IBM]] ([[wiktionary:IBM#Pronunciation|{{IPA|/ˌaɪ.biːˈɛm/|cat=no}}]]), [[BBC]] ([[wiktionary:BBC#Pronunciation|{{IPA|/ˌbiː.biːˈsiː/|cat=no}}]]). When initialism is used as the preferred term, acronym refers more specifically to when the abbreviation is pronounced as a word rather than as separate letters; examples include [[SWAT]] and [[NASA]].

Initialisms, contractions and crasis share some [[semantic]] and [[phonetic]] functions, and are connected by the term ''abbreviation'' in loose parlance.<ref name=harts>{{cite book |title=New Hart's Rules: The handbook of style for writers and editors |first=R M |last=Ritter |publisher=Oxford University Press |date= 2005 |isbn=9780198610410 |oclc=	225098030 }}</ref>{{rp|p167}}

== History ==
{{See also|Scribal abbreviation}}

In early times, abbreviations may have been common due to the effort involved in writing (many inscriptions were carved in stone) or to provide secrecy via [[obfuscation]].

Reduction of a word to a single letter was common in both [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] writing.<ref>{{cite book |first=Charles Frederick |last=Partington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HA9kAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA5 |title=The British Cyclopaedia of the Arts, Sciences, History, Geography, Literature, Natural History, and Biography |publisher= Wm. S. Orr and Company |date=1838 |page=5 |oclc=	551503698}}</ref> In Roman inscriptions, "Words were commonly abbreviated by using the initial letter or letters of words, and most inscriptions have at least one abbreviation".<!-- cited next sentence --> However, "some could have more than one meaning, depending on their context. (For example, {{angbr|A}} can be an abbreviation for many words, such as ''{{lang|la|ager}}'', ''{{lang|la|amicus}}'', ''{{lang|la|annus}}'', ''{{lang|la|as}}'', ''{{lang|la|Aulus}}'', ''{{lang|la|Aurelius}}'', ''{{lang|la|aurum}}'', and ''{{lang|la|avus}}''.)"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adkins |first1=Lesley |last2=Adkins  |first2=Roy |title=Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome |series=Facts on file |isbn=9780816074822 |oclc=	882540013 | publisher=Infobase Publishing |date=2004  |page=261}}</ref> Many frequent abbreviations consisted of more than one letter: for example COS for ''consul'' and COSS for its [[nominative case|nominative]] etc. plural ''consules''.

Abbreviations were frequently used in early [[English language|English]]. Manuscripts of copies of the [[Old English]] poem ''[[Beowulf]]'' used many abbreviations, for example the [[Tironian et]] ({{char|⁊}}) or {{char|&}} for ''and'', and {{char|y}} for ''since'', so that "not much space is wasted".<ref>{{cite book |last=Gelderen |first=Elly van |title=A History of the English Language |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |date=2014 |chapter=4 1. |isbn=9789027270436 |oclc=1097127034}}</ref> The standardisation of English in the 15th through 17th centuries included a growth in the use of such abbreviations.<ref name=spell>{{cite web |url=http://www.spellingsociety.org/journals/j7/shortcuts.php |title=The End of Short Cuts: The use of abbreviated English by the fellows of Merton College, Oxford 1483-1660. |first1=John M. |last1=Fletcher |first2=Christopher A. |last2=Upton |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 15, 2007 |website=The Simplified Spelling Society |date=1 February 2004
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015214606/http://www.spellingsociety.org/journals/j7/shortcuts.php }}</ref> At first, abbreviations were sometimes represented with various suspension signs, not only periods. For example, sequences like {{angbr|er}} were replaced with {{angbr|ɔ}}, as in {{char|mastɔ}} for ''master'' and {{char|exacɔbate}} for ''exacerbate''. While this may seem trivial, it was symptomatic of an attempt by people manually reproducing academic texts to reduce the copy time.
{{blockquote|Mastɔ subwardenɔ y ɔmēde me to you. And wherɔ y wrot to you the last wyke that y trouyde itt good to differrɔ thelectionɔ ovɔ to quīdenaɔ tinitatis y have be thougħt me synɔ that itt woll be thenɔ a bowte mydsomɔ.|source= Warden of [[Merton College]], [[University of Oxford]] in {{lang|la|Registrum Annalium Collegii Mertonensis}}, 1503.<ref name=spell />}}

In the [[Early Modern English]] period, between the 15th and 17th centuries, the [[thorn (letter)|thorn]] {{char|Þ}} was used for ''th'', as in {{char|Þ<sup>e</sup>}} ('the'). In modern times, {{angbr|Þ}} was often used (in the form {{angbr|y}}) for promotional reasons, as in {{char|Y<sup>e</sup> Olde Tea Shoppe}}.<ref>Lass, R., ''The Cambridge History of the English Language'', Cambridge University Press, 2006, Vol. 2, p. 36.</ref>

During the growth of [[philology|philological]] linguistic theory in academic Britain, abbreviating became very fashionable. Likewise, a century earlier in [[Boston]], a fad of abbreviation started that swept the United States, with the globally popular term [[Okay|OK]] generally credited as a remnant of its influence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.illinoisprairie.info/chocokeh.htm |title=The Choctaw Expression 'Okeh' and the Americanism 'Okay' |publisher=Jim Fay |date=2007-09-13 |access-date=2008-05-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224185657/http://www.illinoisprairie.info/chocokeh.htm |archive-date=2010-12-24 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_250.html |title=What does "OK" stand for? |work=[[The Straight Dope]] |access-date=2008-05-12| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080512085453/http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_250.html| archive-date= 12 May 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>

Over the years, however, the lack of convention in some style guides has made it difficult to determine which two-word abbreviations should be abbreviated with periods and which should not. This question is considered below.

Widespread use of electronic communication through mobile phones and the Internet during the 1990s led to a marked rise in colloquial abbreviation. This was due largely to increasing popularity of textual communication services such as instant and text messaging. The original [[Short Message Service|SMS]] supported message lengths of 160 characters at most (using the [[GSM 03.38]] character set), for instance.{{efn|Modern text messaging is not affected by this issue although, behind the scenes, longer messages are carried in multiple 160-byte short messages in a chain. Characters not in GSM 03.38 require two bytes.}} This brevity gave rise to an informal abbreviation scheme sometimes called [[SMS language|Textese]], with which 10% or more of the words in a typical SMS message are abbreviated.<ref>Crystal, David. [[Txtng: the Gr8 Db8]]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-19-954490-5}}</ref> More recently Twitter, a popular [[social networking service]], began driving abbreviation use with 140 character message limits.

In [[HTML]], abbreviations can be annotated using <syntaxhighlight lang=html inline=true><abbr title="Meaning of the abbreviation.">abbreviation</abbr></syntaxhighlight> to reveal its meaning by [[mouseover|hovering the cursor]].

== Style conventions in English ==

In modern English, there are multiple conventions for abbreviation, and there is controversy as to which should be used. One generally accepted rule is to be consistent in a body of work. To this end, publishers may express their preferences in a [[style guide]].

Some controversies that arise are described below.

=== Capitalization ===

If the original word was capitalized then the first letter of its abbreviation should retain the capital, for example Lev. for ''Leviticus''. When a word is abbreviated to more than a single letter and was originally spelled with lower case letters then there is no need for capitalization. However, when abbreviating a phrase where only the first letter of each word is taken, then all letters should be capitalized, as in YTD for ''year-to-date'', PCB for ''printed circuit board'' and FYI for ''for your information''. However, see the following section regarding abbreviations that have become common vocabulary: these are no longer written with capital letters.

=== Periods ===
[[File:“To Penna. R.R. Station”.jpg|thumb|Sign in New York City subway, reading "Penna." for Penn''sylvani''a, showing American style of including the period even for contractions]]
A period (a.k.a. full stop) is sometimes used to signify abbreviation, but opinion is divided as to when and if this convention is best practice.

According to [[Hart's Rules]], a word shortened by dropping letters from the end terminates with a period, whereas a word shorted by dropping letters from the middle does not.<ref name=harts/>{{rp|p167–170}} [[Fowler's Modern English Usage]] says a period is used for both of these shortened forms, but recommends against this practice: advising it only for end-shortened words and lower-case initialisms; not for middle-shortened words and upper-case initialisms.<ref>{{cite book|title=Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage|edition=2nd|editor-first=Robert|editor-last=Allen|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2008|isbn=9780191727078|contribution=Full stop}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Full form
!Shortening
!Short form
!Source
|-
|[[Doctor (title)|Doctor]]
|mid
|Dr
|D——r
|-
|[[Professor]]
|end
|Prof.
|Prof...
|-
|[[Reverend|The Reverend]]
|end
|Rev.
|Rev...
|-
|[[Reverend|The Reverend]]
|mid
|Revd
|Rev——d
|-
|[[The Right Honourable]]
|mid and end
|Rt Hon.
|R——t Hon...
|}

Some British style guides, such as for [[The Guardian]] and [[The Economist]], disallow periods for all abbreviations.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-04-30 |title=Guardian and Observer style guide: A |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-a |access-date=2023-04-22 |issn=0261-3077 |quote="Do not use full points in abbreviations, or spaces between initials, including those in proper names: IMF, mph, eg, 4am, M&S, No 10, AN Wilson, WH Smith, etc." }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=The Economist |title=Style guide |date=2005 |publisher=Profile Books |edition=9th |isbn=978-1-84765-030-6 |location=London |oclc=236346040 |page=117 |quote=Do not use full stops in abbreviations... }}</ref>

In [[American English]], the period is usually included regardless of whether or not it is a contraction, e.g. ''Dr.'' or ''Mrs.'' In some cases, periods are optional, as in either ''US'' or ''U.S.'' for ''United States'', ''EU'' or ''E.U.'' for ''European Union'', and ''UN'' or ''U.N.'' for ''United Nations''. There are some house styles, however—American ones included—that remove the periods from almost all abbreviations. For example:
* The U.S. [[Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices]] advises that periods should not be used with abbreviations on road signs, except for cardinal directions as part of a destination name. (For example, ''"Northwest Blvd"'', ''"W. Jefferson"'', and ''"PED XING"'' all follow this recommendation.) 
* [[AMA Manual of Style|AMA style]], used in many [[medical journal]]s, uses no periods in abbreviations or acronyms, with almost no exceptions. Thus [[exempli gratia|eg]], [[id est|ie]], [[wikt:versus|vs]], [[et al.]], [[Doctor (title)|Dr]], [[Mr.|Mr]], [[magnetic resonance imaging|MRI]], [[intensive care unit|ICU]], and hundreds of others contain no periods. The only exceptions are {{char|No.}} (an abbreviation of [[Numero sign|Numero]], Number), to avoid confusion with the word "[[Yes and no|No]]"; initials within persons' names (such as "George R. Smith"); and "St." within persons' names when the person prefers it (such as "Emily R. St. Clair") (but not in city names such as ''St Louis'' or ''St Paul'').

Acronyms that were originally capitalized (with or without periods) but have since entered the vocabulary as generic words are no longer written with capital letters nor with any periods. Examples are [[sonar]], [[radar]], [[lidar]], [[laser]], [[SNAFU|snafu]], and [[Scuba set|scuba]].

When an abbreviation appears at the end of a sentence, only one period is used: ''The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C.''

In the past, some initialisms were styled with a period after each letter and a space between each pair. For example, ''U.&nbsp;S.'', but today this is typically ''US''.

=== Plural ===

There are multiple ways to pluralize an abbreviation. Sometimes this accomplished by adding an apostrophe and an ''s'' ({{char|'s}}), as in "two PC's have broken screens". But, some find this confusing since the notation can indicate [[possessive case]]. And, this style is deprecated by many style guides. For instance, [[Kate Turabian]], writing about style in academic writings,<ref name="Chicago">{{cite book|last=Turabian |first = Kate L.|title =[[A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations]] | edition = 7th | at=subsection 20.1.2| publisher = University of Chicago Press | author-link=Kate L. Turabian}}</ref> allows for an apostrophe to form plural acronyms "only when an abbreviation contains internal periods or both capital and lowercase letters". For example, "DVDs" and "URLs" and "Ph.D.'s", while the [[Modern Language Association]]<ref name="MLA">Modern Language Association (MLA) Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition 2009, subsection 3.2.7.g</ref> explicitly says, "do not use an apostrophe to form the plural of an abbreviation". Also, the [[American Psychological Association]] specifically says,<ref name="APA">Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 5th Edition 2001, subsection 3.28</ref><ref name=autogenerated1>''Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association'', 6th Edition 2010, subsection 4.29</ref> "without an apostrophe".

However, the 1999 style guide for ''[[The New York Times]]'' states that the addition of an apostrophe is necessary when pluralizing all abbreviations, preferring "PC's, TV's and VCR's".<ref>Siegal, AM., Connolly, WG., [https://books.google.com/books?id=RT5w0s7_op8C&q=plurals+abbreviations ''The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage''], Three Rivers Press, 1999, p. 24.</ref>

Forming a plural of an initialization without an apostrophe can also be used for a number, or a letter. Examples:<ref>{{cite book|last=Garner|first=Bryan|title=Garner's Modern American Usage|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford; New York|isbn=978-0-19-538275-4|page=638}}</ref>
* [[run batted in|Runs batted in]], RBIs
* The roaring 20s
* Mind your Ps and Qs

For units of measure, the same form is used for both singular and plural. Examples:

* 1&nbsp;lb or 20&nbsp;lb
* 1&nbsp;ft or 16&nbsp;ft
* 1&nbsp;min or 45&nbsp;min

When an abbreviation contains more than one period, ''Hart's Rules'' recommends putting the ''s'' after the final one. Examples:

* Ph.D.s
* M.Phil.s
* The d.t.s

However, the same plurals may be rendered less formally as:

* PhDs
* MPhils
* The DTs (This is the recommended form in the ''New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors''.)

According to ''Hart's Rules'', an apostrophe may be used in rare cases where clarity calls for it, for example when letters or symbols are referred to as objects.
* The x's of the equation
* Dot the i's and cross the t's
However, the apostrophe can be dispensed with if the items are set in italics or quotes:
* The ''x''s of the equation
* Dot the 'i's and cross the 't's

In Latin, and continuing to the derivative forms in European languages as well as English, single-letter abbreviations had the plural being a doubling of the letter for note-taking. Most of these deal with writing and publishing. A few longer abbreviations use this as well.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Singular abbreviation
!Word/phrase
!Plural abbreviation
!Discipline
|-
|d.
| didot
|dd.
| typography
|-
|f.
| following line or page
|ff.
|notes
|-
|F.
| folio
|Ff.
|literature
|-
|h.
| hand
|hh.
| horse height
|-
|J.
| Justice
|JJ.
|law (job title)
|-
|l.
| line
|ll.
|notes
|-
|MS
| manuscript
|MSS
|notes
|-
|op.
| opus (plural: opera)
|opp.
|notes
|-
|p.
|page
|pp.
|notes
|-
|Q.
| quarto
|Qq.
|literature
|-
|s. (or [[§]])
|section
|ss. (or §§)
|notes
|-
|v.
|volume
|vv.
|notes
|}

=== Conventions followed by publications and newspapers ===

==== United States ====

Publications based in the U.S. tend to follow the style guides of ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'' and the [[Associated Press]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Chicago Manual of Style, explained {{!}} University of Chicago News |url=https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/chicago-manual-style-explained |access-date=2024-06-23 |website=news.uchicago.edu |language=en}}</ref> The U.S. government follows a style guide published by the [[U.S. Government Printing Office]]. The [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] sets the style for abbreviations of units.

==== United Kingdom ====

Many British publications follow some of these guidelines in abbreviation:
* For the sake of convenience, many British publications, including the [[BBC]] and ''[[The Guardian]]'', have completely done away with the use of periods in all abbreviations. These include:
** Social titles, e.g. Ms or Mr (though these would usually have not had periods—see above) Capt, Prof, ''etc.;''
** Two-letter abbreviations for countries (''"US"'', not ''"U.S."'');
** Abbreviations beyond three letters (full caps for all except initialisms{{clarify|date=November 2015}});
** Words seldom abbreviated with lower case letters (''"PR"'', instead of ''"p.r."'', or ''"pr"'')
** Names (''"FW de Klerk"'', ''"GB Whiteley"'', ''"Park JS"''). A notable exception is ''[[The Economist]]'' which writes ''"Mr F. W. de Klerk"''.
** Scientific units (see Measurements below).
* Acronyms are often referred to with only the first letter of the abbreviation capitalized. For instance, the [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] can be abbreviated as ''"Nato"'' or ''"NATO"'', and [[Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome]] as ''"Sars"'' or ''"SARS"'' (compare with ''"[[laser]]"'' which has made the full transition to an English word and is rarely capitalised at all).
* Initialisms are always written in capitals; for example the ''"British Broadcasting Corporation"'' is abbreviated to ''"BBC"'', never ''"Bbc"''. An initialism is also an acronym but is not pronounced as a word.
* When abbreviating scientific units, no space is added between the number and unit (<nowiki>100mph, 100m, 10cm, 10°C</nowiki>). (This is contrary to the SI standard; see below.)

==== Miscellaneous and general rules ====

* A doubled letter appears in abbreviations of some Welsh names, as in [[Welsh language|Welsh]] the double "l" is a separate sound: "Ll. George" for (British prime minister) [[David Lloyd George]].
* Some titles, such as "Reverend" and "Honourable", are spelt out when preceded by "the", rather than as "Rev." or "Hon." respectively. This is true for most British publications, and some in the United States.
* A repeatedly used abbreviation should be spelt out for identification on its first occurrence in a written or spoken passage.<ref>[[Gary Blake]] and [[Robert W. Bly]], ''The Elements of Technical Writing'', pg. 53. New York City: Macmillan Publishers, 1993. {{ISBN|0020130856}}</ref> Abbreviations likely to be unfamiliar to many readers should be avoided.

== Measurements: abbreviations or symbols==
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]]".

In the [[International System of Units]] (SI) manual<ref>{{SIbrochure8th}}</ref> the word "symbol" is used consistently to define the shorthand used to represent the various SI units of measure. The manual also [[International System of Units|defines the way in which units should be written]], the principal rules being:
*The conventions for upper and lower case letters must be observed—for example 1&nbsp;MW (megawatts) is equal to 1,000,000&nbsp;[[watt]]s and 1,000,000,000&nbsp;mW (milliwatts).
*No periods should be inserted between letters—for example "m.s" (which is an approximation of "m·s", which correctly uses [[middle dot]]) is the symbol for "metres multiplied by seconds", but "ms" is the symbol for milliseconds.
*No periods should follow the symbol unless the syntax of the sentence demands otherwise (for example a full stop at the end of a sentence).
*The singular and plural versions of the symbol are identical—not all languages use the letter "s" to denote a plural.

== Syllabic abbreviation ==
<!--irony is this is linked from the MOS on how not to do it like this! - see [[MOS:CAPSACRS]]-->
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 [[portmanteau]]s, which combine two words without necessarily taking whole syllables from each.

=== English ===
Syllabic abbreviations are not widely used in English. Some UK government agencies such as [[Ofcom]] (Office of Communications) and the former [[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). This usage has spread into other American cities, giving [[South of Market, San Francisco|SoMa]], San Francisco (South of Market) and [[LoDo, Denver]] (Lower Downtown), amongst others.

[[Chicago]]-based electric service provider [[ComEd]] is a syllabic abbreviation of ''Commonwealth'' and (Thomas) ''Edison''.

Sections of [[California]] are also often colloquially syllabically abbreviated, as in NorCal (Northern California), CenCal (Central California), and SoCal (Southern California). Additionally, in the context of Los Angeles, the syllabic abbreviation SoHo (Southern Hollywood) refers to the southern portion of the [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] neighborhood.

Partially syllabic abbreviations are preferred by the US Navy, as they increase readability amidst the large number of initialisms that would otherwise have to fit into the same acronyms. Hence ''[[DESRON]] 6'' is used (in the full capital form) to mean "Destroyer Squadron 6", while ''[[COMNAVAIRLANT]]'' would be "Commander, Naval Air Force (in the) Atlantic".

Syllabic abbreviations are a prominent feature of [[Newspeak]], the fictional language of [[George Orwell]]'s dystopian novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''. The political contractions of Newspeak—''Ingsoc'' (English Socialism), ''Minitrue'' (Ministry of Truth), ''Miniplenty'' ([[Ministry of Plenty]])—are described by Orwell as similar to real examples of German ''([[#German|see below]])'' and Russian (''[[#Russian|see below]])'' contractions in the 20th century. The contractions in Newspeak are supposed to have a political function by virtue of their abbreviated structure itself: nice sounding and easily pronounceable, their purpose is to mask all ideological content from the speaker.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Orwell |first=George |title=Nineteen Eighty-Four |publisher=Secker and Warburg |year=1949 |isbn=978-0-452-28423-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/nineteeneightyfo00orwe_1 }}</ref>{{rp|310–8}}

A more recent syllabic abbreviation has emerged with the disease [[COVID-19]] (Corona Virus Disease 2019) caused by the [[Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2]] (itself frequently abbreviated to [[SARS-CoV-2]], partly an initialism).

=== Albanian ===

In Albanian, syllabic acronyms are sometimes used for composing a person's name, such as ''[[Migjeni]]''—an abbreviation from his original name (''Millosh Gjergj Nikolla'') a famous Albanian poet and writer—or ''[[ASDRENI]]'' (''Aleksander Stavre Drenova''), another famous Albanian poet.

Other such names which are used commonly in recent decades are GETOAR, composed from ''[[Gegeria]]'' + ''[[Tosks]]'' (representing the two main dialects of the Albanian language, Gegë and Toskë), and ''[[Arbanon]]''—which is an alternative way used to describe all Albanian lands.

=== German ===
Syllabic abbreviations were and are common in [[German language|German]]; much like acronyms in English, they have a distinctly modern connotation, although contrary to popular belief, many date back to before [[1933 in Germany|1933]], if not the end of [[the Great War]]. {{lang|de|[[Kriminalpolizei]]}}, literally ''criminal police'' but idiomatically the [[Criminal Investigation Department]] of any German police force, begat {{lang|de|KriPo}} (variously capitalised), and likewise {{lang|de|[[Schutzpolizei]]}} (''protection police'' or ''uniform department'') begat {{lang|de|SchuPo}}. Along the same lines, the Swiss Federal Railways' Transit Police—the {{lang|de|Transportpolizei}}—are abbreviated as the {{lang|de|TraPo}}.

With the National Socialist German Workers' Party gaining power came a frenzy of government reorganisation, and with it a series of entirely new syllabic abbreviations. The single national police force amalgamated from the {{lang|de|Schutzpolizeien}} of the various states became the OrPo ({{lang|de|[[Ordnungspolizei]]}}, "order police"); the state KriPos together formed the "SiPo" ({{lang|de|[[Sicherheitspolizei]]}}, "security police"); and there was also the [[Gestapo]] ({{lang|de|Geheime Staatspolizei}}, "secret state police"). The new order of the [[German Democratic Republic]] in the east brought about a conscious [[denazification]], but also a repudiation of earlier turns of phrase in favour of neologisms such as {{lang|de|[[Stasi]]}} for {{lang|de|Staatssicherheit}} ("state security", the secret police) and {{lang|de|VoPo}} for {{lang|de|Volkspolizei}}. The phrase {{lang|de|politisches Büro}}, which may be rendered literally as "office of politics" or idiomatically as "political party steering committee", became {{lang|de|[[Politburo|Politbüro]]}}.

Syllabic abbreviations are not only used in politics, however. Many business names, trademarks, and service marks from across Germany are created on the same pattern: for a few examples, there is [[Aldi]], from ''Theo Albrecht'', the name of its founder, followed by ''discount''; [[Haribo]], from ''Hans Riegel'', the name of its founder, followed by ''Bonn'', the town of its head office; and [[Adidas]], from [[Adi Dassler|''Adolf "Adi" Dassler'']], the nickname of its founder followed by his surname.

=== Russian ===
Syllabic abbreviations are very common in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. They are often used as names of organizations. Historically, popularization of abbreviations was a way to simplify mass-education in 1920s (see [[Likbez]]). The word ''[[kolkhoz]]'' (''kollektívnoye khozyáystvo'', [[collective farm]]) is another example.

Leninist organisations such as the ''[[Comintern]]'' (''Communist International'') and ''[[Komsomol]]'' (''Kommunisticheskii Soyuz Molodyozhi'', or "Communist youth union") used Russian language syllabic abbreviations. In the modern Russian language, words like ''Rosselkhozbank'' (from Rossiysky selskokhozyaystvenny bank — [[Russian Agricultural Bank]], RusAg) and ''Minobrnauki'' (from Ministerstvo obrazovaniya i nauki — Ministry of Education and Science) are still commonly used. In nearby [[Belarus]], there are ''Beltelecom'' (Belarus Telecommunication) and Belsat (Belarus Satellite).

=== Spanish ===
Syllabic abbreviations are common in [[Spanish (language)|Spanish]]; examples abound in organization names such as [[Pemex]] for ''Petróleos Mexicanos'' ("Mexican Petroleums") or Fonafifo for ''Fondo Nacional de Financimiento Forestal'' (National Forestry Financing Fund).

=== Malay and Indonesian ===
In Southeast Asian languages, especially in [[Malay languages]], abbreviations are common; examples include [[Petronas]] (for ''Petroliam Nasional'', "National Petroleum"), its Indonesian equivalent [[Pertamina]] (from its original name ''Perusahaan Pertambangan Minyak dan Gas Bumi Negara'', "State Oil and Natural Gas Mining Company"), and [[Ministry of Transportation (Indonesia)|Kemenhub]] (from ''Kementerian Perhubungan'', "Ministry of Transportation").

Malaysian abbreviation often uses letters from each word, while Indonesia usually uses syllables; although some cases do not follow the style. For example, general elections in Malaysian Malay often shortened into PRU ('''p'''ilihan '''r'''aya '''u'''mum) while Indonesian often shortened into pemilu ('''pemil'''ihan '''u'''mum). Another example is Ministry of Health in which Malaysian Malay uses KKM ('''K'''ementerian '''K'''esihatan '''M'''alaysia), compared to Indonesian Kemenkes ('''Kemen'''terian '''Kes'''ehatan).

=== Chinese and Japanese kanji ===
East Asian languages whose writing systems use [[Chinese characters]] form abbreviations similarly by using key Chinese characters from a term or phrase. For example, in Japanese the term for the [[United Nations]], ''kokusai rengō'' (国際連合) is often abbreviated to ''kokuren'' (国連). (Such abbreviations are called [[:ja:略語|ryakugo]] (略語) in Japanese; see also [[Japanese abbreviated and contracted words]]). The syllabic abbreviation of [[kanji]] words is frequently used for universities: for instance, ''Tōdai'' (東大) for ''Tōkyō daigaku'' (東京大学, [[University of Tokyo]]) and is used similarly in Chinese: ''Běidà'' (北大) for ''Běijīng Dàxué'' (北京大学, [[Peking University]]). Korean universities often follow the same conventions, such as ''Hongdae'' (홍대) as short for ''Hongik Daehakgyo'', or [[Hongik University]]. The English phrase "[[:wikt:gung ho|Gung ho]]" originated as a Chinese abbreviation.

== See also ==
* {{Annotated link |Abbreviation (music)}}
* {{Annotated link |Blend word}}
** {{Annotated link |List of portmanteaus}}
* {{Annotated link |Clipping (morphology)}}
* {{Annotated link |Gramogram}}
* {{Annotated link |List of abbreviations used in medical prescriptions}}
* {{Annotated link |List of abbreviations in photography}}
* {{Annotated link |Acronym}}
** {{Annotated link |List of acronyms}}
* {{Annotated link |List of business and finance abbreviations}}
* {{Annotated link |List of classical abbreviations}}
* {{Annotated link |List of medieval abbreviations}}
* {{Annotated link |Neologism}}
* {{Annotated link |Numeronym}}
* {{Annotated link |RAS syndrome}}
* {{Annotated link |SMS language}}
* {{Annotated link |Three-letter acronym}}
* [[Wiktionary:Wiktionary:Abbreviations in Webster|The abbreviations used in the 1913 edition of Webster's dictionary]]
* {{Annotated link |Unicode alias names and abbreviations}}

==Notes==
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== References ==
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{{Wiktionary|abbreviation}}
{{EB1911 poster|Abbreviation}}
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[[Category:Abbreviations| ]]