From the NFL to URL, we don’t blend the letters together into new words, but rather pronounce each one. In fact, most common acronyms are initialisms. Then there are initialisms, which are a type of acronym defined as “a set of initials representing a name, organization, or the like, with each letter pronounced separately.” Think BFF (best friend forever), UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) and IRS (Internal Revenue Service). Other examples include NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), and UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). is an abbreviation for “example,” but it’s not an acronym.Īn acronym is “ a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words in a set phrase or series of words and pronounced as a separate word.” For example, WASP stands for “white Anglo-Saxon Protestant.” You pronounce it as one word instead of saying each letter.
Acronyms are abbreviations, but not all abbreviations are acronyms. initialismsįirst, it’s important to note that there are some slight technicalities when it comes to abbreviations. Some, however, skate the line, and if you’re not familiar with them, they can be tricky. It’s likely because those that we blend together lend themselves easily to blending and are simple to sound out, while others end up as tongue twisters. Others, such as AIDS, however, we pronounce as one word. For example, when we see FBI, we know to pronounce each letter separately. Some abbreviations are obvious, as they’ve been in our vernacular for a while.
Then there are the cases that leave us looking at a string of letters without a clue how to pronounce them or what they mean. From texting to talking, they save time and space and streamline our communications … in most cases. Now, more than ever, our language is full of abbreviations.
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