A backronym or bacronym is a type of acronym that is constructed to match the letters of an actual word appropriate in some fashion to the topic at hand. The word "backronym" is a portmanteau (fusion) of back and acronym and was coined in 1983. An acronym is a word created from the initial letters of a phrase: RAdio Detection And Ranging becomes radar. Note that an acronym is an actual word -- anything that has not actua ...

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• Backronym - Humorous

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List of backronyms, List of backronyms - Reverse etymology, List of backronyms - False etymology, List of backronyms - Backronyms as mnemonics, List of backronyms - Backronyms as slogans, List of backronyms - Backronyms as political statements, List of backronyms - Euphemisms, List of backronyms - Backronyms in language translation, List of backronyms - Backronyms as Humor, List of backronyms - Audio and video, List of backronyms - Automotive, List of backronyms - Aviation, List of backronyms - Broadcasters and networks, List of backronyms - Computing and telecommunications, List of backronyms - Education, List of backronyms - Entertainment, List of backronyms - Manufacturing and commerce, List of backronyms - Military and police, List of backronyms - Other, List of backronyms - People, List of backronyms - Politics, List of backronyms - Ranks of the Order of St Michael and St George, List of backronyms - Retail, List of backronyms - Science

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A pure backronym occurs when a sequence of letters is commonly understood to stand for a phrase that in fact had no role in its original conception. An example is SOS, the international distress signal that was chosen solely for its easy recognizability in Morse code, but which is often thought to stand for "save our ship", "save our souls" or something similar. An older distress signal, CQD, also has a backronym: "come quick, distress (or danger)." Another example is the word "wiki", from the Hawaiian word meaning quick. Since its application to consumer generated media, some have suggested ...

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Backronym, Backronym - Details, Backronym - Types

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In etymology, the process of back-formation is the creation of a neologism by reinterpreting an earlier word as a compound and removing the affixes, or more generally, by trying to reconstruct an original form from any kind of derived form (including abbreviations or inflected forms). The resulting new word is also called a back-formation. The simplest case is when a longer form of a word pair predates what would usually be the basic form. For example, the noun resurrection was borrowed from Latin, and the verb Including:

• Back-formation - More examples of back-formation

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Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations such as NATO, laser, or DNA, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced based on this abbreviated written form. Of the two words, acronym is the much more frequently used and known, and many dictionaries, speakers and writers refer to all abbreviations formed from initial letters as acronyms. However, some still differentiate between acronyms and initialisms: an acronym was originally a pronounceable word formed from the initial ...

Including:

• Acronym and initialism - History
• Acronym and initialism - Written usage
• Acronym and initialism - Nomenclature
• Acronym and initialism - Examples
• Acronym and initialism - Trivia

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The Brit Awards are the annual United Kingdom pop music awards founded by the British Phonographic Industry. The awards began in 1977 as the BPI Awards and were renamed The Britannia Awards, or Brit Awards, in 1989. Brit is also a backronym for British Record Industry Trust which supports youngsters in the arts and education mainly at the BRIT School in Croydon, London. Strong music industry sponsorship and involvement mean that awards are given without much democratic process and, many suspect, for strongly commercial r ...

Including:

• Brit Awards - Selected Famous and Infamous Brit Award Incidents
• Brit Awards - Ronnie Wood vs Brandon Block 2000
• Brit Awards - Robbie Williams vs Liam Gallagher 2000
• Brit Awards - Belle and Sebastian beat Steps to best newcomer award 1999
• Brit Awards - Chumbawumba throw water over John Prescott 1998
• Brit Awards - Jarvis Cocker’s stage invasion during Michael Jackson’s Earth Song 1996
• Brit Awards - The KLF a machine gun and a dead sheep 1992
• Brit Awards - The Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood Car Crash 1989
• Brit Awards - Awards
• Brit Awards - 2006
• Brit Awards - 2005
• Brit Awards - 2004
• Brit Awards - 2003
• Brit Awards - 2002
• Brit Awards - 2001
• Brit Awards - 2000
• Brit Awards - 1999
• Brit Awards - 1998
• Brit Awards - 1997
• Brit Awards - 1996
• Brit Awards - 1995
• Brit Awards - 1994
• Brit Awards - 1993
• Brit Awards - 1992
• Brit Awards - 1991
• Brit Awards - 1990
• Brit Awards - 1989
• Brit Awards - 1988
• Brit Awards - 1987
• Brit Awards - 1986
• Brit Awards - 1985
• Brit Awards - 1984
• Brit Awards - 1983
• Brit Awards - 1982
• Brit Awards - 1977
• Brit Awards - Acts With Four or More Brit Awards
• Brit Awards - External link

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Apronyms are created for several purposes. Serious purposes such as the name of an organisation or programme. In such cases usually the apronym and its expanded term are chosen together for their aptness to the thing being named. See the example of SAD in the introduction. As mnemonics for difficult-to-spell words. For example, a recursive acronym for "rhythm" is Rhythm Has Your Two Hips Moving. In marketing and public relations, as a method of influencing public thought. Examples abound i ...

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Apronym, Apronym - Purposes, Apronym - Some apronyms, Apronym - Humorous apronyms, Apronym - Backronyms

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Retronym - Retronymic adjectives. Analog/analogue  Describes non-digital devices: analog clock, analog recording. Conventional, classic, or traditional  Describes devices or methods that have been largely replaced or significantly supplemented by new ones. For example, conventional (non-microwave) oven. I, Senior, the Elder  When a dynastic ruler has or adopts a name ident ...

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Retronym, Retronym - Examples, Retronym - Retronymic adjectives

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False etymology - Eponyms. Here are some words which are commonly thought to be eponyms, but are not: Asphalt – Leopold von Asphalt Avocado – Jorge-Luis Avocado Brassiere or Bra - Otto Titzling (this one propagated by the original edition of Trivial Pursuit and the movie Beaches) Buffet – Pierre-Alphonse Buffet Bugle – Hereward Bugle Cabaret – Antoine de Cabaret Comma – Domenico da Comma Corset – Etienne Corset < ...

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False etymology, False etymology - Examples, False etymology - Eponyms, False etymology - External link

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A more humorous backronym of the initialism is the Italian phrase "Sono pazzi questi Romani", which translates into "These Romans are crazy". It is often used by the Italian translations of the comic book character Obelix. Another backronym is "Sono Porci Questi Romani" (which is Italian for "Those Romans Are Pigs"). Another humorous, yet puerile, meaning is "Small Profits, Quick Returns." In Europe and beyond, also, SPQ* is sometimes used as an assertion of municipal pride and civic rights. In Benevento, one can find SPQBSee also:

SPQR, SPQR - Other uses

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A more humorous backronym of the initialism is the Italian phrase "Sono pazzi questi Romani", which translates into "These Romans are crazy". It is often used by the Italian translations of the comic book character Obelix. Another backronym is "Sono Porchi Questi Romani" (which is Italian for "Those Romans Are Pigs"). Another humorous, yet puerile, meaning is "Small Profits, Quick Returns." In Europe and beyond, also, SPQ* is sometimes used as an assertion of municipal pride and civic rights. In Benevento, one can find SPQB< ...

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SPQR, SPQR - Other uses

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Abbreviations have been traditionally written using a full stop/period to mark the part that was deleted. In the case of most acronyms and initialisms, each letter is its own abbreviation, and in theory should get its own full stop/period. This usage is becoming less common as the presence of all capital letters is sufficient to indicate the word is an abbreviation; nevertheless some influential American style guides still insist on the many-periods treatment, such as the one used by The New York Times (which recommends periods after ...

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Acronym and initialism, Acronym and initialism - History, Acronym and initialism - Written usage, Acronym and initialism - Nomenclature, Acronym and initialism - Examples, Acronym and initialism - Trivia

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Traditionally, abbreviations have been written using a fullstop/period to mark the part that was deleted. In the case of most acronyms and initialisms, each letter is its own abbreviation, and in theory should get its own fullstop/period. But this usage is becoming less common, as the presence of all-capital letters is sufficient to indicate the word is an abbreviation. Some influential style guides, such as that of the BBC, no longer require this. Larry Trask, American author of the Penguin Guide to Punctuation, states categorically ...

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Acronym and initialism, Acronym and initialism - History, Acronym and initialism - Written usage, Acronym and initialism - Nomenclature, Acronym and initialism - Examples, Acronym and initialism - Trivia

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Acronyms and initialisms are a relatively new linguistic phenomenon, having only become popular during the 20th century. As literacy rates rose, the practice of referring to words by their first letters became increasingly convenient. The first recorded use of the word initialism in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is in 1899, and the first for acronym is in 1943. The word acronym comes from Greek: ακρος, akro ...

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Acronym and initialism, Acronym and initialism - History, Acronym and initialism - Written usage, Acronym and initialism - Nomenclature, Acronym and initialism - Examples, Acronym and initialism - Trivia

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Yahoo! started out as "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" but eventually received a new moniker with the help of a dictionary. "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle" is a backronym for "yahoo", but Filo and Yang insist they selected the name because they liked the word's general definition, as in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." Yahoo itself first resided on Yang's student workstation, "Akebono," while the software was lodged on Filo's computer, "Konishiki"—both named after legendary sum ...

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Yahoo!, Yahoo! - History, Yahoo! - Controversy, Yahoo! - Important events, Yahoo! - Yahoo! Research Labs

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A second incarnation appeared in Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, a U.N.-built mecha designed to fight Godzilla following the failure of G-Force's Mechagodzilla. For this film the designation "MOGERA" was assigned the backronym "Mobile Operation Godzilla Expert Robot Aero-Type", the alternative spelling "MOGUERA" given by the additional word "Universal". MOGERA has an expansive arsenal of weapons, including a powerful chest cannon, Spiral Grenade Missile launchers in its "hands", and Plasma Laser Canons in its eyes. I ...

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Moguera, Moguera - Moguera, Moguera - MOGERA, Moguera - Similar concepts, Moguera - Filmography

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Yahoo! started out as "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" but eventually received a new moniker with the help of a dictionary. "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle" is a backronym for "yahoo!", but Filo and Yang insist they selected the name because they liked the word's general definition, as in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth." Yahoo! itself first resided on Yang's student workstation, "Akebono," while the software was lodged on Filo's computer, "Konishiki"—both named ...

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Yahoo!, Yahoo! - History, Yahoo! - Controversy, Yahoo! - Important events, Yahoo! - Yahoo! Research Labs, Yahoo! - Yahoo! Next

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Initialism originally referred to abbreviations formed from initials, without reference to pronunciation, but during the middle portion of the twentieth century, when acronyms and initialisms saw more use than ever before, the word acronym was coined for abbreviations which are pronounced as a word, like "NATO" or "AIDS". The term initialism is now typically taken to refer to abbreviations which are pronounced by sounding out the name of each constituent letter (e.g. HTML). In general usage, the term acronym is co ...

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Acronym and initialism, Acronym and initialism - History, Acronym and initialism - Written usage, Acronym and initialism - Nomenclature, Acronym and initialism - Examples, Acronym and initialism - Trivia

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According to early Commodore 'myth' and reported by writer/programmer Jim Butterfield among others, the word KERNAL is an acronym (or maybe more likely, a backronym) standing for Keyboard Entry Read, Network, And Link, which in fact makes good sense considering its role. There's also, however, a theory that the word originated as a misspelling of the word "kernel"[1] by some unknown Commodore employee. Misspelling or not, Berkeley Softworks later used it when naming the core routines of its ...

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KERNAL, KERNAL - Example of use, KERNAL - Acronym or misspelling?, KERNAL - Notes

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The longest acronym, according to the 1965 edition of Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations Dictionary, is ADCOMSUBORDCOMPHIBSPAC, a United States Navy term that stands for "Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command." The world's longest initialism, according to the Guinness Book of World Records is NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT. The 56-letter initialism (54 in Cyrillic) is from the Concise Dictionary of Soviet Terminology and means "The ...

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Acronym and initialism, Acronym and initialism - History, Acronym and initialism - Written usage, Acronym and initialism - Nomenclature, Acronym and initialism - Examples, Acronym and initialism - Trivia

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