List of acronyms
This is a list of acronyms that are pronounceable words. This list does not include initialisms, acronyms whose pronunciation is wholly or partly the names of constituent letters.
Please add your own, in alphabetical order.
- ACCAC - Awdurdod Cymwysterau, Cwricwlwm ac Asesu Cymru (Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales)
- AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
- ANA - All Nippon Airways, anti-nuclear anti-body
- ANSI - American National Standards Institute
- ANZAC - Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
- ASAP - as soon as possible
- ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
- ASCAP - American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
- ASFAR - Americans for a Society Free of Age Restrictions
- AWACS - Airborne Warning and Control System
- AWOL - Absent Without Official Leave (military jargon)
- BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit
- BASE, as in BASE jumping - Building, Antenna, Span, Earthform (or Earth)
- BASIC - Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, acronym was added later, originally it was simply Basic
- BIOS - basic input/output system
- BOAT - Byway Open to All Traffic (pronounced as 2 syllables, Bo-At)
- BOHICA - Bend Over Here It Comes Again
- BODMAS - Brackets, Of, Division, Multiplication, Addition, Subtraction
- BWARS - Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society
- CAD - Computer Aided Design
- CALABARZON - a region in the Philippines: Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon (not an acronym in the strictest sense)
- CBE - Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- CBC - Cipher Block Chaining
- CERN - Centre Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire
- COBOL - Common Business-Oriented Language
- COD - Cash On Delivery
- CREEP - Committee to Re-elect the President
- DBE - Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- DINK - Double income, no kids
- DOI - Digital Object Identifier
- DOS - Density of State / Disk Operating System / Denial of Service
- EPCOT - Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow
- FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency
- FIFA - Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Association Football Federation)
- FIDE - The Fédération Internationale des Échecs (World Chess Foundation)
- FIFO - First In First Out
- FUBAR - Fucked (or Fouled) Up Beyond All Recognition
- FSC - Forest Stewardship Council (an ecological pressure group)
- GBE - Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
- Gestapo - GEheime STAtsPOlizei ("secret state police")
- GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out
- GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program
- GLAAD - Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
- GNOME - GNU Network Object Model Environment
- GNU - GNU's Not Unix
- GOMER - Get Out of My Emergency Room (derogatory reference to hypochondriac patients)
- grep - (search) globally for regular expression, print (lines)
- GUI - Graphical User Interface (pronounced goo-ey)
- Gulag - Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel'no-trudovykh LAGerei
- HALO - High Altitude Low Opening (type of a parachute jump)
- IATA
- ISCII - Indian Standard Code for Information Interchange
- Interpol -- International Criminal Police Organization
- IUPAC - International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (pronounced Yoo-Pac)
- JAG - Judge Advocate General (US military lawyers)
- JAL - Japan Airlines
- JATO - Jet Assisted Takeoff Unit
- Jeb Bush - John Ellis Bush
- Jeb Stuart - James Ewell Brown (Stuart's given names)
- JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group
- KBE - Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- KISS - Keep it simple stupid
- LAN - Local Area Network
- Laser - Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
- LUCA - Last Universal Common Ancestor
- Maser - Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
- MASH - mobile army surgical hospital
- MBE - Member of the Order of the British Empire
- MILF - Mother I'd Like To Fuck, Moro Islamic Liberation Front
- MIMAROPA - a region in the Philippines: Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan
- MIP - Multiple Identity Poster
- MPEG - Motion Pictures (Coding) Experts Group
- NAAFI - Navy, Army and Air Force Institute (British)
- NAMBLA - North American Man-Boy Love Association
- NARAL - National Abortion Rights Action League
- NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- NASCAR - National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing
- Nasdaq - National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations
- NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- NIMBY - Not In My Back Yard
- NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- NORAD - North American Aerospace Defense Command
- NORML - National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
- NOTAFLOF - No One Turned Away For Lack Of Funds
- NOW - National Organization for Women
- NUCC(C) - Nordic University Computer Club (Conference)
- NUTS - Nuclear Utilization Target Selection
- NYRA - National Youth Rights Association; also New York Racing Association (horse racing)
- OBE - Office of the Order of the British Empire
- PAL - Phase Alternating Line (TV standard)
- PAL - Philippine Airlines
- PARWIG - Power Augmented Ram Wing in Ground (aeroplane wing shape)
- POG - Passionfruit, Orange and Guava
- Qantas - Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services
- QDOS - Quick and Dirty Operating System
- Quango - (British) QUasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation
- Quasar - Quasi-stellar radio source
- Radar - Radio detection and ranging
- RAM - Random Access Memory, Royal Air Maroc
- ROM - Read Only Memory
- SAVAK - Sazamane Etelaat va Amniate Kechvar (Iranian Security and Intelligence Service)
- SARS - Severe acute respiratory syndrome
- Scuba - Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
- SEATO - Southeast Asian Treaty Organization
- SECAM - Systeme Electronique Couleur Avec Memoire (TV standard)
- SIMPLE
- SLORC - The State Law and Order Restoration Council (of Burma)
- SNAFU - Situation Normal - All Fucked (or Fouled) Up
- SNOBOL - StriNg Oriented symBOlic Language
- SOCCSKSARGEN - a region in the Philippines: South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, General Santos City (pronounced sock-sar-gen)
- Sonar - Sound navigation and ranging
- SWAT - Special Weapons And Tactics
- TANJ - There Ain't No Justice
- TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (from Robert Heinlein)
- TEETH - Tried Everything Else, Try Homoeopathy (medical diagnosis in-joke)
- TOS - Terms of Service
- UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
- UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund, originally United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
- UNIDO - United Nations Industrial Development Organization
- UNIFEM - United Nations Fund for Women
- WAN - Wide Area Network
- WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get
- Yippie - Youth International Party + suffix
- Yuppie - Young Urban Professional + suffix
- XrML - eXtensible Rights Markup Language
Words that may not be acronyms, but urban legends say that they are:
- Fuck - Fornication under consent of the king or for unlawful carnal knowledge
- Golf - Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden
- News - North, east, west and south (a mnemonic)
- Posh - Port out, starboard home
- Tips - To insure prompt service
See also:
backronym,
list of initialisms,
list of US Army acronyms,
List of government and military acronyms
External links
