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List of acronyms: 0–9

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This is a list of acronyms and initialisms.

For the purpose of this list, an acronym is an abbreviation that is pronounced as a series of constituent letters, and an initialism is an abbreviation whose pronunciation is wholly or partly the names of constituent letters. Also, a pseudo-blend is an abbreviation that is not really an acronym, nor an initialism nor a true portmanteau word, usually due to extra or omitted letters.

(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

Add new entries here

Please add your own, in a quasi-dictionary order with lowercase treated the same as uppercase. This means that only alphanumeric characters are significant to determine the order, and that lowercase letters occupy the same ordering position as uppercase. For example: Algol appears before ALS. This differs from a strict ASCII ordering.

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Non-alphabetic

0-9

  • 2D - (i) Two-dimensional
  • 2.5D - (i) "Two-and-a-half-dee": two-dimensional computer graphics imitating 3D
  • 2G - (i) Second-generation mobile (cellular, wireless) telephone system
  • 2.5G - (i) 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

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

  • KARNAC - (a) Knowledge Aided Retrieval in Activity Context
  • 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")
  • KFC - (i) Kentucky Fried Chicken
  • KGB - (i) Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security - Soviet Intelligence Service)
  • KIA - (i) Killed In Action
  • KISS - (a) Keep it simple stupid
  • KKK - (i) Ku Klux Klan
  • KLM - (i) Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (Royal Dutch Airlines)
  • KMFDM - (i) Kein mitleid für die mehrheit, or "no pity for the majority" (band)

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

  • YAC - (a/i) Youth-Adult Committee.
  • YAP - (a) Young Aspiring Professional
  • Yippie - (a) Youth International Party + suffix
  • YM - (i) Your Magazine (originally Young Miss, later Young & Modern)
  • YMCA - (i) Young Men's Christian Association
  • YMMV - (i) Your Mileage May Vary
  • YRUU - (i) Young Religious Unitarian Universalists.
  • Yuppie - (a) Young Urban Professional + suffix
  • YWCA - (i) Young Women's Christian Association

Z

Dubious entries

Words that may not be acronyms, but (humorous) folk etymology says that they are, some of these are 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

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