Words Formed from the Initial Letters of Other Words

Words Formed from the Initial Letters of Other Words Words Formed from the Initial Letters of Other Words Words Formed from the Initial Letters of Other Words By Maeve Maddox The word acronym was coined in 1943 by Bell Laboratories to refer to new words like RADAR that had been created from the initials of the words in phrases. Distinctions can be made between initial letter constructions that can be pronounced as words (RADAR) and those which can be pronouced only as letters (FBI). Strictly speaking, RADAR is an acronym, while FBI is an initialism. Unless one is addressing an academic audience, the word acronym may be used to refer to any word formed from the initials of other words. For one thing, acronym is a more familiar term than initialism. For another, many words formed from initials defy easy categorization. Some dont even have widely agreed-upon names to describe them. Letter Combinations pronounced as a word WAC Womens Army Corps NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization LASER Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation pronounced as initials FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation ATM Automated Teller Machine BBC British Broadcasting Corporation AFL-CIO American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations pronounced partly as letters, partly as syllables JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group MS-DOS Microsoft Disk Operating System CD-ROM Compact Disc read-only memory pronounced as words by some speakers; as letters by others: FAQ Frequently Asked Questions LED Light-Emitting Diode ASAP As Soon As Possible IRA Individual Retirement Account SAT Scholastic Achievement Test pronounced as letters and words AAA (Triple A) American Automobile Association NAACP (N double-A CP) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People formed from letters within a word as well as initial letters DNA DeoxyriboNucleic Acid SONAR SOund Navigation And Ranging XML eXtensible Markup Language Ill worry about specific labels for the different types when Im called upon to write an academic treatise on the subject. For ordinary conversation and informal writing, Ill go on calling them all acronyms. For those who like to make nice distinctions in such matters, this Wikipedia article is a wealth of information. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Arrive To vs. Arrive At15 Types of DocumentsThe Two Sounds of G