Typical questions

Considerations

Abbreviations are shortened forms of a word or phrase, such as ‘tel’ for telephone, or ‘fax’ for facsimile. Ibid. is short for ibidem (Latin for ‘in the same place’). Acronyms are groups of letters made up of some or all of the first letters of a name such as BL for British Library, NACRO for the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, or CAMRA for the CAMpaign for Real Ale. Both abbreviations and acronyms are common in text and speech but they do cause difficulty for people unfamiliar with them. They are particularly common in technical or specialist writing where they are useful as a form of shorthand.

Where to look

Printed sources

Most general dictionaries include the more common abbreviations and acronyms, either in the main alphabetical sequence or in appendices. Specialist subject dictionaries and handbooks often contain them, though obviously the subject area needs to be known first.

Specialist dictionaries of abbreviations and acronyms include the following examples. They are usually shelved with general language dictionaries.

Acronyms, initialisms & abbreviations dictionary (2008) 38th edn, Gale. 4 vols

Fergusson, R. (2004) Alphabet soup: an A to Z of abbreviations, Bloomsbury

Fioretta, B. M. (2003) Elsevier's dictionary of acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations and symbols, 2nd edn, Elsevier

Oxford dictionary of abbreviations, (1998) 2nd edn, Oxford University Press

Paxton, J. (2002) Everyman dictionary of abbreviations, Dent

Subject dictionaries may be found with the subject itself. Some examples are:

Buttress's world guide to abbreviations of organizations (1996) 11th edn, Springer

Ramsay, A. (2001) Eurojargon: a dictionary of European Union acronyms, abbreviations and sobriquets, Fitzroy Dearborn

Electronic sources

Two good websites are:

The Internet Acronym Server www.ucc.ie/info/net/acronyms/acro.html

Acronym Finder www.acronymfinder.com (180,000 definitions)

Tips and pitfalls

Ask the enquirer for the context in which the abbreviation or acronym was heard or read. This will help narrow the search. Is it in current use? Was it in a newspaper or a book? If so, what was the subject? Is it a technical term? Or a literary one?

Beware the many abbreviations and acronyms that have more than one meaning. JSC can stand for Joint Stock Company and Joint Staff Council; ‘p’ for ‘page’ or ‘pence’.