Lets pretend we have two names in our database of customers and we want to put them in alphabetical order. But heres an interesting example containing an abbreviation and a period to consider. The situation for the period is similar to a blank space if sorting on a letter-by-letter basis. Please note: An acronym (from Greek: -acro = sharp, pointed -onym = name) in its pure form denotes a combination of letters (usually from an abbreviation) which can be used and pronounced as a word.įor the sake of clarity and readability, this definition is not always followed within the 2 lists on this page.Įnd of Thread /. Alphabetizing a name containing an abbreviation.

The reason is that these abbreviations are based on the pronunciation of their corresponding letter / digit. Some are true acronyms, pronounced as a word: as with computed axial tomography, for example, CAT is almost always pronounced as the animal s name ( / kæt /) in 'CAT scan'. However, there are some exceptions, which are fairly safe to use: 2 Most three-letter abbreviations are not, strictly, acronyms, but rather initialisms: all the letters are pronounced as the names of letters, as in APA / epie / AY-pee-AY. Not all of these short-hands can be assumed to be understood by the majorities of Internet or E-Mail users. The acronyms / abbreviations are mostly written in upper case. And they should help to better understand the meaning of text centered messages. It just contains the abbreviations (new Slang / shorthands), which I consider most useful.

The Language of Internet: the following is a list of some common acronyms that are used on the web, in E-Mails.

Alphabet abbreviations for words