This list contains acronyms, initialisms, and pseudo-blends .
For the purposes of this list:
- acronym = an abbreviation pronounced as a series of constituent letters
- initialism = an abbreviation pronounced wholly or partly using the names of its constituent letters
- 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)
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)
- 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")
- 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
- 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
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
- 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
See also
External links
