User:Jnestorius/Types of initialism

Table of types of acronym and initialism, with examples.

The Oxford English Dictionary uses "initialism" or "acronym" as appropriate in its etymologies, except that B.V.D. is "(biːviːˈdiː) [Acronym f. the initial letters of the name of its manufacturers, Bradley, Voorhees & Day: the widely-held belief that B.V.D. stood for ‘babies' ventilated diapers’ is mistaken.] "

Source data from mainspace article

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  • pronounced as a word or names of letters, depending on speaker or context:
    • IRA: ([ˈaɪrə] or [aɪ.ɑr.eɪ])
    • ((LOL)) LaughOutLoud
    • FAQ: ([fæk] or [ɛf.eɪ.kju]) frequently asked questions
    • SAT: ([sæt] or [ɛs.eɪ.ti]) Scholastic Achievement (or Aptitude) Test(s)
    • SQL: ([sikwəɫ] or [ɛs.kɪu.ɛl]) Structured Query Language
  • pronounced as a combination of names of letters and a word:
    • CD-ROM: ([si.di.rɒm]) Compact Disc read-only memory
    • IUPAC: ([aɪ.ju.pæk]) International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
    • JPEG: ([ˈdʒeɪpɛg]) Joint Photographic Experts Group
    • PDFORRA: ([pi.di.fɔrə]) Permanent Defence Forces Other Ranks Representative Association
  • pronounced only as the names of letters
    • BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation
    • DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid
    • LED: light-emitting diode
    • OB-GYN: obstetrics and gyn(a)ecology or obstetrician and gyn(a)ecologist
  • pronounced as the names of letters that also sound like words
    • YRUU: ([waɪ.ɑr.ju.ju]) Young Religious Unitarian Universalists
  • pronounced as the names of letters to distinguish it from the word the abbreviation forms
  • pronounced as the names of letters but with a shortcut
    • AAA: ([trɪpəɫ.eɪ]) American Automobile Association or anti-aircraft artillery
    • IEEE: (aɪ.trɪpəɫ.i) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
    • NAACP: (ɛn.dʌbəɫ.eɪ.si.pi) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
    • NCAA: ([ɛn.si.dʌbəɫ.eɪ]) National Collegiate Athletic Association
  • shortcut incorporated into name
    • 3M: ([θri.ɛm]) originally Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
    • : ([i.θri]) Electronic Entertainment Exposition
    • W3C: ([dʌbəɫju.θri.si]) World Wide Web Consortium
    • IC4A: Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America
  • recursive acronyms, in which the abbreviation itself is the expansion of one initial (particularly enjoyed by the open-source community)
    • GNU: GNU’s Not Unix
    • HURD: HIRD of Unix-Replacing Daemons, where "HIRD" stands for "HURD of Interfaces Representing Depth"
    • VISA: VISA International Service Association
    • WINE: WINE Is Not an Emulator
  • pseudo-acronyms are used because, when pronounced as intended, they resemble the sounds of other words:
  • multidimentional acronyms:
    • GTK+: GIMP Tool Kit, i.e. GNU Image Manipulation Program Tool Kit, i.e., GNU's Not Unix Image Manipulation Program Tool Kit

Trivia

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Table

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e.g.[1] desc[2] W[3] M[4] S[5] LS[6] E[7] M[8]
deejay, emcee, okay, Esso, Seabee respelled initialism
jeep, Beeb, Veep clipped initialism
Énarque, Cégétiste, Defeño, cubewano respelled as morpheme
FNMA, FTSE, SCSI, WR[e]NS acronym with inserted vowels
FLWOR acronym with reordered letters "flower"
MUSL "MUlti-State Lottery association" → [2-1 1 0]
ARISF "Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations" where IOC not coded.
laser "by" uncoded; origin less known, lowercase
NATO sound of "A" different from component
numbers as initials
scuba hyphenation in "self-contained"
Amphetamine et should be eth; amine coded entire
paraben syllables of single word
Gestapo Benelux not camel case; syllabic
Interpol syllabic; not all words coded
radar almost initial-only; "and" included
BMX,XA,X/F, XPM, XSS X=trans/cross: rebus
SXSW X="by" (multiplication sign rebus)
BMO, MPEG, PDFORRA, RGDATA part initialism, part acronym
CSRF part initialism, part acronym-with-inserted-vowels
SFX part initialism, part phonetic
BBQ part initialism, part phonetic; rebus influences new spelling; letter per syllable
IRA initialism in English, acronym in French
RAF formally initialism, affectionately acronym
AWOL originally initialism, became acronym
AK PARTİ rare 2-letter acronym
asap, URL usually initialism, occasionally acronym
SQL sometimes acronym-w-inserted-vowels, sometimes initialism
XML X often used for eX- words in initialisms, not acronyms
quango retains the u for pronunciation
NASDAQ final Q often allowed
Qantas, HIQA rare Q = [kw] where not followed by u (also A for "and" in QANTAS)
AT&T, T&GWU ampersand for And
XANES X genuine initial (X-ray)
OS X, SSPX X as roman numeral
TNT morphemes not words
agitprop 2-syllable+1-syllable
SoHo Camelcase
BCBG becebege
PJs pajamas: per syllable, non-morphemic
TB I guess originally Tubercle bacillus, now mainly tuberculosis even though the B is non-morphemic; bacillus now called Mycobacterium tuberculosis abbreviated MTB
ID, [on the] QT/q.t. noun: identification or identification document? verb: identify? ; q[uie]t!?
EPO, OB/GYN initialism for arbitrary subset of letters of word.
c'mon, guys!
  • JUpiter ICy moon Explorer
  • CArgo Transportation And Landing bY Soft Touchdown
Scarp Small Companies Administration Process -- is the r from administRation or pRocess?
BSc, UVA alphabetism as w1l1-w2l1-w2l2
e.g
  1. LEADER
  2. MEAS "respect"
  3. DEIS "opportunity"
  4. MADRA "dog"
  5. Eolas "knowledge"
  6. CRANN "tree"
  7. GLAS "vegetable"
macaronic backronym
  1. Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l'Économie Rurale
  2. Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society
  3. Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools
  4. Mutts Anonymous Dog Rescue and Adoption
  5. Embedded Objects Linked Across Systems
  6. Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices
  7. Garden Landscape Amenity Showcase
Arcelor Conmebol start-mid-end blend
TAC (various), GoF (var) Initial of short function word (a/the/and/of) retained
IN2P3 "Institut national de physique nucléaire et de physique des particules" — I guess INPNPP →1 INNPPP →2 IN2P3, wherein the →1 is dodgy.
P3P Note not PPPP or P4 but rather P3P. Why not P2P2?
AJAX asynchronous JavaScript and XML -- "and" included; XML double acronym
A2/AD anti-access/area-denial [weapon]
C4ISR command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
Tri-Ess ("Society for the Second Self", 3S) respelled — is that a pun?

Key to table

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  1. ^ examples
  2. ^ prose description of noeworthy features
  3. ^ At least one component is a word
  4. ^ At least one component is a morph
  5. ^ At least one component is a syllable
  6. ^ one letter from start of component
  7. ^ includes letters from middle of component
  8. ^ includes letters from end of component