What Abbreviations and Acronyms Do You Know?

Posted by: Josef Essberger

Is NASA an abbreviation or an acronym?

An abbreviation is something like “Dr” or “Dr.” for “Doctor”, or “Ltd” or “Ltd.” for “Limited”.

An acronym is made from the First Letters of other words, for example “NASA” for “National Aeronautics and Space Administration”, or “laser” for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation”.

What abbreviations and acronyms do you know?

See also: Abbreviations

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• Internet Vocabulary: Adjectives
• Spring Fever is a Real Condition

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Posted by Josef Essberger October 2011
Josef founded EnglishClub for learners and teachers of English in 1997

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29 comments

• Truman says:
  

  I usually type ‘ty’ to say thanks in message/online game. It’s the first letters of the words “Thank You”

• Tejinder Arya says:
  

  RIP : rest in peace
  WIP : work in progress
  FYI : For your Informaton

• safia dirie says:
  

  I don`t know what to add,but I want to thank the admin of this website for his or her endless effort to satisfy the need of thousands of people who hope to improve their language.God bless u.

• kate says:
  

  Mali , lol means laugh out loudly

• metalgearsiolide1 says:
  

  hello..
  abrreviations:1.”etc..” for “iterate”
  2.”$” for “Dollars”
  3.”Mr” for”Mister”

  acronyms:1.CIA:Central Intelligence Agency
  2.NATO:North Athlantic Treaty
  Organiziation
  3.EC:English Club

• Mali says:
  

  Thanks everybody for your perfect informations, but can anybody tell me the meaning of “LOL”?Does it mean “lots of laugh”?

• kris says:
  

  English is really vast!!!! but it is wonderfully interesting!

• Val says:
  

  Oh!

  And LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) too! There are many indeed!

• Val says:
  

  Hi, everyone!

  How about SCUBA (Self Containing Underwater Breathing Apparatus) and SSDE (Surface Supplied Diving Equipment)? And RADAR (Radio Detection And Ranging)?

  All in all, thanks for this website exists!! When I think my creativity is getting to an end I will call on its tips and hints!!

• Daniel says:
  

  BPGHNFWMY thats the most popular one 🙂

• Richard says:
  

  Wow! that is alot of abbreviation and words. I am a beginner in this club hoping that someone can teach how to correct my grammar. Anyway this website is cool.

• Olga says:
  

  personally in chat I like to use “ROFL” (“Rolling On The Floor Laughing”)

• Olga says:
  

  lol — lots of laugh
  but not officially people use it like “lols of love” (it’s just the play of words, or abbriviations…anyway it’s pun)

• Olga says:
  

  Thanx for everything you do to help ups learn learn English! One day English will take over the world)))

• Priyanka says:
  

  I just want to what is the actual fullform of “lol” that they often use while chatting. Im a bit confused on this one.

• Aleksandr says:
  

  KGB – ( Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosty (in Russian)- Commitee State Security) – CIA anolog in USSR.
  RF – Russia Federation

• isam says:
  

  beautifull topic go ahead and be activate

• Richard says:
  

  It’s an funny topic.I like it.

• Rosalie T Cigaral says:
  

  just to clear correct me if I’m wrong about DST is it Daylight Saving Time???

• Olga says:
  

  you cover rather interesting and useful topics! keep up, good job! my students read you with pleasure, and you know how difficult it is to make them do something))
  anyway, thank you very much)

• mehrnaz of Iran says:
  

  It was helpful. I learned some new things. Thanks alot.

• Sabina says:
  

  ASAP means as soon as possible 🙂 we use it frequently in our office

• Maisbilingual says:
  

  It’s really amazing to be one of your member in this site. I get so many new things to learn. Thanks a lot.

• serigne says:
  

  This is very usefuJl Mr Joe,really you’re a wonderful man I hope that one day I’ll meet you.That’s a dream and I think it’ll be realised.God bless you

• mariana says:
  

  hey!
  Many thanks Gabriel Sowrian for this collection it was very helpful .

• Joe says:
  

  Thank you Gabriel. That’s very kind of you. More will be welcome anytime.

• M.S.KHAN says:
  

  THANK YOU FOR DESIGHNING SUCH A GOOD WEBSITE. IT IS QUITE HELPFUL FOR ME

• M.S.KHAN says:
  

  IT IS QUITE HELPFUL FOR ME
  THANK YOU FOR DESIGHNING SUCH A GOOD WEBSITE!

• Gabriel Sowrian says:
  

  Hello Mr Josef Essberger!

  How are you! Quite frankly, I always wanted to thank you personally for creating “MyEC”, a fantastic Virtual English Language Club! I’m sure many people would have poured their heartfelt gratitude to you in many ways for that selfless immense contribution of yours to all the non-native speakers around the world. Thus, it may sound nothing new to hear this from me! However, I wish to pay you with a big “Thank You” as my debt of gratitude! God Bless You, Sir…!

  Well! For your info, I started to compile words according to their categories (close to a hundred) ever since I decided to get serious in improving my English Language Skill. The following is one such category picked from my own ‘archive!’ (I’ve mixed both the “Abbreviations” and “Acronyms” into one single list. Sorry!)

  a.m. : ante meridiem
  AD : Anno Domini
  AH : Anno Hegirae
  AIDS : Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
  aka : also know as
  APEC : Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
  ASAP : As Soon As Possible
  ASEAN : Association Of Southeast Asian Nations
  ATM : Automated Teller Machine
  BA : Bachelor of Arts
  BC : Before Christ
  BSc : Bachelor of Science
  DIP : Document Image Processing
  DJ : Dico Jockey
  DST : Daylight Saving Light
  DVD : Digital Versatile Disc
  etc. : et cetera
  FIFA : Fédération Internationale de Football Association
  FM : Frequency Modulation
  GCSE : General Certificate of Secondary Education
  GDP : Gross Domestic Product
  GMT : Greenwich Mean Time
  GNP : Gross National Product
  GP : General Practitioner
  GPS : Gobal Positioning System
  GSM : Global System (or Standard) for Moblile Communications
  GSOH : Good Sense of Humour
  GST : Goods and Services Tax
  HQ : Headquarters
  HTML : Hypertext Mark-up Language
  IMF : International Monetary Fund
  INRI : Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum
  IRC : Internet Relay Chat
  ISBN : International Standard Book Number
  ISO : International Organization for Standardization
  ITTO : Internation Tropical Timber Organization
  JP : Justice of the Peace
  MC : Master of Ceremonies
  NAFTA : North American Free Trade Agreement
  NATO : North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  OHP : Overhead Projector
  OPEC : Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
  p.a. : per annum
  p.m. : post meridiem
  PA : Public Address (System)
  PO : Post Office
  PS : Postscript
  PTO : Please Turn Over
  SARS : Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
  SW : Short Wave
  TEFL : Teaching English as a Foreign Language
  TESL : Teaching English as a Second Language
  TESOL : Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
  TIFF : Tagged Image File Format
  TOEFL : Test Of English as a Foreign Language
  TOEIC : Test Of English for International Communication
  UHF : Ultra-high Frequency
  UHT : Ultra Heat Treated
  UK : United Kingdom
  UN : United Nations
  UNCED : United Nations Conference on Environment
  UNESCO : United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
  UNHCR : United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
  UNICEF : United Nations Children’s Fund
  UNO : United Nations Organization
  UPC : Universal Product Code
  URL : Uniform (or Universal) Resource Locator
  USA : United States of America
  USSR : Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
  VCR : Video Cassette Recorder
  VHF : Very High Frequency
  VHS : Video Home System
  VIP : Very Important Person
  VJ : Video Jokey
  VOA : Voice of America
  WHO : World Health Organization
  WTO : World Trade Organization
  WWF : World Wildlife Fund
  WWW : World Wide Web

  PS: My list is ever growing! If you’re not against, perhaps I can forward more in future.