Difference between revisions of "List of acronyms"

Revision as of 11:50, 25 August 2019

Here is a list of some common acronyms, i.e., abbreviations which are formed from the initial letters or other parts of words but are pronounced as if they were words in their own right. For more on acronyms and advice about their use in academic writing see Acronym.

• An Aga (or Aga cooker) is a type of (often very large) stove or kitchen range made of cast iron. Its name is an acronym of the Swedish firm where Agas were first produced, Aktiebolaget Svenska Gasaccumulator (i.e., Swedish Gas Accumulator Company). An Aga saga is a type of novel in which the characters are prosperous members of the English middle class, i.e., individuals who may be thought particularly likely to own an Aga.

• AIDS (pronounced IPA: /eɪdz/) - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

• awol (pronounced IPA: /'eɪwɒl/ – absent without leave; originally used of soldiers who fail to report for duty without official permission, but now used more widely in informal speech, often jocularly, of anyone who unexpectedly cannot be found when they are wanted or needed.

• Comintern – the Communist International, an international Communist organisation founded by Lenin in 1919 and dissolved in 1943.

• diptel – diplomatic telegram; a report or other communication sent by an ambassador or other diplomat abroad to his home government.

• EFTA (pronounced IPA: /'ɛftə/) – European Free Trade Association, established in 1960 to eliminate trade tariffs on certain products; its current membership is Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

• Fatah is the name of a Palestinian political party, currently the largest party in the multi-party Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). Fatah is a transliteration of the party’s name in Arabic, فتح (fath), which means ‘opening’, ‘conquest’, ‘victory’, and is a reverse acronym of the Arabic حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني, ḥarakat al-taḥrīr al-waṭanī al-filasṭīnī (i.e., Palestinian National Liberation Movement).

• The Gestapo were the secret police in Nazi Germany: the word Gestapo is an acronym of the German Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police).

• Hamas is the name of an Islamist fundamentalist organisation, which currently forms the government of the Gaza Strip. Hamas is a transliteration of its name in Arabic, حماس (hamās), which means ‘eagerness, ‘zeal’, ‘keenness’ and is an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية, harakat al-muqāwamah al-ʾislāmiyyah (i.e., Islamist Resistance Movement).

• NASA (pronounced IPA: /'næsə /) - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

• radar – radio detecting and ranging, i.e., a system that uses very high frequency radio waves to detect the position and speed of distant objects.

• scuba (as in ‘scuba diving’, etc.) is a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, consisting of a cylinder of compressed air attached to a breathing device.

• sonar – sound navigation and ranging, i.e., a system that uses sound waves to determine the position of objects underwater.

• stem (subjects) – (subjects within the fields of) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

• USDAW (pronounced IPA: /'ʌz dɔː/) – Union of Shop, Distributive, and Allied Workers.