List of acronyms and initialisms

This list contains acronyms, initialisms, and pseudo-blends.

For the purposes of this list:

  • acronym = an abbreviation pronounced as a series of constituent letters, e.g., SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome
  • initialism = an abbreviation pronounced wholly or partly using the names of its constituent letters, e.g., CD = compact disc
  • pseudo-blend = an abbreviation whose extra or omitted letters means that it cannot stand as a true acronym, initialism, or portmanteau (a word formed by combining two or more words).
(a) = acronym in the example: SARS - (a) Severe acute respiratory syndrome
(i) = initialism in the example: CD - (i) Compact disc
(p) = pseudo-blend in the example: UNIFEM - (p) United Nations Development Fund for Women
(s) = symbol (none of the above, representing and pronounced as something else; for example: MHz - Megahertz)

Add new entries here or in the sub-pages

Because of the list's size, acronyms and initialisms beginning with certain characters appear in separate articles.

Please add your own entries, in this page or in the appropriate sub-page. Use a quasi-dictionary order, with lowercase treated the same as uppercase and ignoring non-alphanumeric characters (hyphens and such). This means that only alphanumeric characters have any significance in determining order, and that lowercase letters occupy the same ordering position as uppercase (in tie-breaker cases, list lower case first). For example: Algol appears before ALS. (This differs from a strict ASCII ordering)

Contents

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Top of pageSee alsoExternal links


Non-alphabetic

0-9

  • 2D - (i) Two-Dimensional
  • 2.5D - (p) "Two-and-a-half-dee": two-dimensional computer graphics imitating 3D
  • 2G - (i) Second-generation mobile (cellular, wireless) telephone system
  • 2.5G - (p) Second-and-a-half-generation mobile telephone system
  • 3D - (i) Three-dimensional
  • 3G - (i) Third-generation mobile telephone system
  • 3M - (i) Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
  • 4D - (i) Four-dimensional (usually three spatial plus one temporal dimension, sometimes 4 spatial ones)
  • 4G - (i) Fourth-generation mobile telephone system
  • 4GL - (i) Fourth-generation programming language
  • 4WD - (i) Four Wheel Drive (cf. AWD)

A

See List of acronyms and initialisms: A

B

See List of acronyms and initialisms: B

C

See List of acronyms and initialisms: C

D

See List of acronyms and initialisms: D

E

See List of acronyms and initialisms: E

F

See List of acronyms and initialisms: F

G

See List of acronyms and initialisms: G

H

See List of acronyms and initialisms: H

I

See List of acronyms and initialisms: I

J

  • J - (s) Joule
  • J1 - (s) Joint Personnel Directorate
  • J2 - (s) Joint Intelligence Directorate
  • J3 - (s) Joint Operations Directorate
  • J4 - (s) Joint Logistics Directorate
  • J5 - (s) Joint Public Affairs Directorate
  • J6 - (s) Joint Information Technology Directorate

JA-JD

JE-JL

  • Jeb Bush - (a) John Ellis Bush
  • Jeb Stuart - (a) James Ewell Brown (Stuart's given names) Stuart
  • JEZ - (a) Joint Engagement Zone
  • JFACC - (i) Joint Force Air Component Commander
  • JFC - (i) Joint Force Commander
  • JFET - (i/a) Junction Field-Effect Transistor ("jay-fett")
  • JFK - (i) John Fitzgerald Kennedy or the airport named after him.
  • JFLCC - (i) Joint Force Land Component Commander
  • JFMCC - (i) Joint Force Maritime Component Commander
  • JFSOCC - (i) Joint Force Special Operations Component Commander
  • JIB - (a) Joint Information Bureau
  • JIC - (a) Joint Intelligence Centre
  • JITC - (i) Joint Interoperability Test Command

JM-JR

  • JM - (s) Jamaica (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)
  • JNI - (i) Java Native Interface
  • JNLP - (i) Java Network Launch Protocol
  • JO - (s) Jordan (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)
  • JOA - (a/i) Joint Operations Area
  • JOPES - (a) Joint Operations Planning and Execution System
  • JOR - (s) Jordan (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • JOTS - (a) Joint Operations Tactical System
  • JP - (s) Japan (ISO 3166 digram)
  • JPEG - (a) Joint Photographic Experts Group ("djay-peg")
  • JPL - (i) Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • JPN - (s) Japan (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • JRA - (i) Japanese Red Army - Joint Rear Area

JS-JZ

  • JSAF - (a) Joint Semi-Automated Forces ("djay-saff")
  • JSD - (i) juris scientiae doctor (Latin, "doctor of science of law")
  • JSEAD - (i) Joint Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (see SEAD)
  • JSOA - (i) Joint Special Operations Area
  • JSOTF - (i) Joint Special Operations Task Force
  • JSS - (i) Joint Support Ship
  • JSTARS - (p) Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System ("djay-starz")
  • JT - (s) Johnston Atoll (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete 1986)
  • JTAGS - (p) Joint Tactical Ground Station ("djay-tagz")
  • JTC - (i) Joint Training Confederation
  • J-TENS - (a) Joint-Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities
  • JTF - (i) Joint Task Force
  • JTIDS - (p) Joint Tactical Information Distribution System ("djay-tidz")
  • JTMD - (i) Joint Theatre Missile Defence
  • JTN - (s) Johnston Atoll (ISO 3166 trigram; obsolete 1986)
  • JTRS - (a/i) Joint Tactical Radio System ("jitters")
  • JUGFET - (p) JUnction Gate Field-Effect Transistor
  • JW - (i) Jehovah's Witnesses
  • JZ - (i) Joint Zone

K

KA-KL

KM-KZ

L

See List of acronyms and initialisms: L

M

See List of acronyms and initialisms: M

N

See List of acronyms and initialisms: N

O

See List of acronyms and initialisms: O

P

See List of acronyms and initialisms: P

Q

R

See List of acronyms and initialisms: R

S

See List of acronyms and initialisms: S

T

See List of acronyms and initialisms: T

U

See List of acronyms and initialisms: U

V

VA-VK

VL-VO

VP-VZ

  • VP - (a/i) Vice-President ("veep")
  • VR - (i) Virtual Reality
  • VS - (i) vide supra (Latin, "see above")
  • VSAT - (a) Very Small Aperture Terminal ("vee-satt")
  • VSHORAD - (p) Very Short Range Air Defence
  • VSO - (i) Voluntary Services Overseas
  • V/STOL - (p) Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing ("vee-stoll")
  • VT - (s) Vatican City-State (NATO country code) - Vermont (postal symbol)
  • VTC - (i) Video Tele-Conference
  • VTOL - (i) Vertical Take-Off & Landing
  • VU - (s) Vanuatu (ISO 3166 digram)
  • VUT - (s) Vanuatu (ISO 3166 trigram)
  • VV - (i) Via Voice - Village Voice
  • VV&A - (i) Verification, Validation & Accreditation
  • VVAF - (i) Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation

W

See List of acronyms and initialisms: W

X

  • Xe - (s) Xenon
  • XBML - (p) eXtensible Battle Management Language
  • XCBL - (i) XML Common Business Library
  • XHTML - (p) eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language
  • XML - (p) eXtensible Markup Language
  • XMSF - (p) eXtensible Modelling and Simulation Framework
  • XO - (i) Executive officer
  • XRML - (p) eXtensible Rights Markup Language
  • XSL - (p) eXtensible Style Language

Y

Z

Dubious entries

Words that may not qualify as acronyms, though (humorous) fake etymology claims them as such (some of these classify as backronyms):

  • Fuck - (a) Fornication under consent of the king - For unlawful carnal knowledge
  • Golf - (a) Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden
  • News - (a) North, east, west and south (a mnemonic)
  • Pom - (a) (Australian English) Prisoner of His Majesty
  • Posh - (a) Port out, starboard home
  • Rap - (a) Rhythm and poetry - Rhythmical African poetry - Rhythmic American Poetry
  • Tip - (a) To insure promptness - (plural) To insure prompt service
Contents: top - 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

See also

External links

  • Acronym Finder (http://www.acronymfinder.com) searchable database of acronyms and abbreviations (over 400,000 entries)
  • Acronym Search (http://www.acronymsearch.com) searchable database of acronyms and abbreviations (over 50,000 entries)
  • Acronym Server (http://www.ucc.ie/cgi-bin/uncgi/acronym) searchable database of acronyms and abbreviations (over 20,000 entries)
  • Apronyms & Acronyms (http://acronyms.co.nz)
  • initialisms.com (http://www.initialisms.com) directory of acronyms and abbreviations (over 330,000 entries)
  • IT Acronyms (http://www.computer-tips-und-tricks.de/vera-index.html)
  • NC3A list of acronyms (http://nc3ta.nc3a.nato.int/website/book.asp?cl=no&page=acronyms/index.html&menuid=13)
  • Need an apronym created? (http://www.co.nz/cgi/forums/main.cgi?id=acronyms&user=&session=)es:Lista de siglas y acrónimos

hu:Mozaikszók listája pt:Lista de acrónimos

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