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

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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

JA - (s) Japan (NATO country code)
JAG - (a) Judge Advocate General (military law)
JAL - (p) Japan Airlines
JAM - (s) Jamaica (ISO 3166 trigram)
JAMA - (i) Journal of the American Medical Association
JATO - (a) Jet-Assisted Take-Off
JCATS - (a) Joint Conflict And Tactical Simulation ("djay-catts")
JCDB - (i) Joint Common Data Base
JCDS - (i) Joint Chiefs of the Defence Staff
JCL - (i) Job Control Language
JCS - (i) Joint Chiefs of Staff
JD - (i) Julian Day - juris doctor (Latin, "doctor of jurisprudence") - jurum doctor (Latin, "doctor of laws")
JDL - (i) Jewish Defense League

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

K - (s) Kelvin - Potassium (Latin Kalium)

KA-KL

KARNAC - (a) Knowledge Aided Retrieval in Activity Context
KAZ - (s) Kazakhstan (ISO 3166 trigram)
KBE - (i) Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
KCK - (i) Kansas City, Kansas
KCMO - (p) Kansas City, Missouri (pronounced "K-C-Moe")
KE - (s) Kenya (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)
KEN - (s) Kenya (ISO 3166 trigram)
KERA - (a) Kentucky Education Reform Act (of 1990)
KFC - (i) Kentucky Fried Chicken
KG - (s) Kyrgyzstan (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)
KGB - (i) Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Russian "Committee for State Security") (1954-1991)
KGZ - (s) Kyrgyzstan (ISO 3166 trigram)
KH - (s) Cambodia (ISO 3166 digram)
KHM - (s) Cambodia (ISO 3166 trigram)
KI - (s) Kiribati (ISO 3166 digram)
KIA - (i) Killed In Action
KIR - (s) Kiribati (ISO 3166 trigram)
KISS - (a) Keep It Simple, Stupid
KKK - (i) Ku Klux Klan
KLENOT - (p) KLEť Observatory Near Earth and Other unusual objects observations Team and Telescope
KLM - (i) Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (Dutch "Royal Dutch Airlines")
KLOC - (a) Kilo Lines Of Code

KM-KZ

KM - (s) Comoros (ISO 3166 digram)
KMFDM - (i) Kein mitleid für die mehrheit (German "No pity for the majority" music band)
KN - (s) Democratic People's Republic of Korea (NATO country code) - Saint Kitts and Nevis (ISO 3166 digram)
KNA - (s) Saint Kitts and Nevis (ISO 3166 trigram)
KO - (i) Knocked Out
KOR - (s) Republic of Korea (ISO 3166 trigram)
KP - (s) Democratic People's Republic of Korea (ISO 3166 digram)
Kr - (s) Krypton
KR - (s) Kiribati (NATO country code) - Republic of Korea (ISO 3166 digram)
KS - (s) Kansas (postal symbol) - Republic of Korea (NATO country code)
KU - (s) Kuwait (NATO country code)
KW - (s) Kuwait (ISO 3166 digram)
KWT - (s) Kuwait (ISO 3166 trigram)
KY - (s) Cayman Islands (ISO 3166 digram) - Kentucky (postal symbol)
Kybo - (a) Keep Your Bowels Open
KZ - (s) Kazakhstan (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)

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

QA - (s) Qatar (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)
Qantas - (a) Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services
QAT - (s) Qatar (ISO 3166 trigram)
QC - (i) Quality Control - (s) Québec (postal symbol) - (i) Queen's Counsel
QCA - (i) Qualifications and Curriculum Authority - Quality Council of Alberta
QCD - (p) Quantum ChromoDynamics
QD - (i) quaque die (Latin, "daily")
QDOS - (p) Quick and Dirty Operating System ("cue-doss")
QED - (p) quantum electrodynamics - (i) quid es demonstrata or quod erat demonstrandum (Latin, "that proves it" or "which was to be demonstrated")
QID - (i) quater in die (Latin, "four times daily")
QIP - (a) Quadrilateral Interoperability Programme (ancestor of MIP; "quip")
QS - (i) quantum sufficit (Latin, "as much as suffices")
QSL - (i) Québec sign language
QSO - (i) Quasi-Stellar Object
QSTAG - (p) Quadripartite Standardization Agreement ("cue-stag")
Quango - (p) (British Commonwealth) QUasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation
Quasar - (p) Quasi-stellar radio source
qv - (i) quod vide (Latin "which see")
QWGAOR - (i) Quadripartite Working Group on Army Operational Research ("qwig-a-o-r")

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

V - (s) Vanadium - Volt

VA-VK

VA - (s) Virginia (postal symbol) - Vatican City-State (ISO 3166 digram)
VAT - (i) Value-Added Tax - (s) Vatican City-State (ISO 3166 trigram)
VB - (i) Victoria Bitter (beer) - Visual Basic
VC - (s) Saint-Vincent and the Grenadines (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram) - (i) Victoria Cross
VCT - (s) Saint-Vincent and the Grenadines (ISO 3166 trigram)
VD - (s) North Vietnam (ISO 3166 digram, obsolete 1977) - (i) Venereal Disease
VDMOS - (i/a) Vertical Double-diffused MOS transistor ("vee-dee-moss")
VDR - (s) North Vietnam (ISO 3166 trigram, obsolete 1977)
VE - (s) Venezuela (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)
VEN - (s) Venezuela (ISO 3166 trigram)
VERITAS - (a) Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System
VfD - (i) Votes for deletion (used in Wikipedia)
VFR - (i) Visual Flight Rules
VFW - (i) Veterans of Foreign Wars
VG - (s) British Virgin Islands (ISO 3166 digram)
VGB - (s) British Virgin Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
VHF - (i) Very High Frequency
VI - (s) U.S. Virgin Islands (postal symbol; ISO 3166 digram) - (i) vide infra (Latin, "see below")
VIDS - (i) Visual Information Display System
VIP - (i) (see VIP)
VIR - (s) U.S. Virgin Islands (ISO 3166 trigram)
VISCII - (p) VIetnamese Standard Code for Information Interchange

VL-VO

VLAD - (a/i) Vertical Line Array DIFAR
VLF - (i) Very Low Frequency
VLIW - (i) Very Long Instruction Word
VLPFC - (i) VentroLateral PreFrontal Cortex
VLPMC - (i) VentroLateral PreMotor Cortex
VLSI - (i) Very-large-scale integration
VM - (s) Vietnam (NATO country code)
VMASC - (i/a) Virginia Modeling Analysis & Simulation Center ("vee-mask")
VMF - (i) Variable Message Format
VN - (s) Vietnam (ISO 3166 digram)
VNIR - (i) Visible and Near InfraRed
VNM - (s) Vietnam (ISO 3166 trigram)
VNS - see entry
VOC - (i) Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company) - Volatile organic compounds
VON - (i) Victorian Order of Nurses

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

Y - (s) Yttrium
YAC - (a/i) Youth-Adult Committee
YAP - (a) Young Aspiring Professional
Yb - (s) Ytterbium
YD - (s) People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (ISO 3166 digram, obsolete 1990)
YE - (s) Yemen (NATO country code; ISO 3166 digram)
YEM - (s) Yemen (ISO 3166 trigram)
YHBT - (i) You Have Been Trolled
Yippie - (a) Youth International Party + suffix
YM - (i) Your Magazine (originally Young Miss, later Young & Modern)
YMCA - (i) Young Men's Christian Association
YMD - (s) People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (ISO 3166 trigram, obsolete 1990)
YMMV - (i) Your Mileage May Vary
YO - (s) former Yugoslavia (NATO country code, obsolete 1993)
YRUU - (i) Young Religious Unitarian Universalists
YT - (s) Mayotte (ISO 3166 digram) - Yukon Territory (postal symbol)
YU - (s) Serbia and Montenegro (NATO country code) - (i) York University - (s) former Yugoslavia (ISO 3166 digram, obsolete 2003)
YUG - (s) former Yugoslavia (ISO 3166 trigram, obsolete 2003)
Yuppie - (p) Young Urban Professional + suffix
YWCA - (i) Young Women's Christian Association

Z

ZA - (s) South Africa (ISO 3166 digram) - Zambia (NATO country code)
ZAF - (s) South Africa (ISO 3166 trigram)
ZANU-PF - (i) Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front
ZAR - (s) Zaire (ISO 3166 trigram, obsolete 1997)
ZCU - (i) Zimbabwe Cricket Union
ZI - (s) Zimbabwe (NATO country code)
ZIP - (a) Zoning Improvement Plan code
ZM - (s) Zambia (ISO 3166 digram)
ZMB - (s) Zambia (ISO 3166 trigram)
Zn - (s) Zinc
ZOPFAN - (i) Zone Of Peace, Freedom And Neutrality
Zr - (s) Zirconium
ZR - (s) Zaire (ISO 3166 digram; obsolete 1997)
ZUI - (a) Zooming User Interface ("zoo-wee")
ZW - (s) Zimbabwe (ISO 3166 digram)
ZWE - (s) Zimbabwe (ISO 3166 trigram)

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

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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