20

Acronymfinder.com lists TX as a rare abbreviation for "transaction", particularly in the context of computers. It use by the Bitcoin protocol may be its best-known application, but I've also found a few other instances. As the Acronym Finder suggests, it seems to be used sparingly at best, and I've found no non-technology-related uses of it.

Does anybody know of an origin or first use of abbreviating "transaction" as "tx"?

Improve this question
5
  • 2
    Sometimes it's also TXN.
    – tchrist ♦
    Feb 22, 2015 at 22:38
  • I have seen this in the context of older (think 1990's, e.g. Great Plains) computer implementations of accounting systems a number of times, for instance as the first two characters of transaction references, the remaining characters being digits.
    – R Foster
    Apr 10, 2017 at 23:50
  • 1
    Medicine has a tendency to abbreviate many things using X: Biopsy - Bx, Dx - diagnosis, Fx - fracture, Hx - history, Sx - surgery, and Tx - transplant, transformation, transaction, therapy, treatment (though transaction is not the most common of terms in medicine).
    – Mitch
    Apr 11, 2017 at 0:05
  • 1
    I'll note that "X" is a common way to abbreviate "trans", as in "xmit" for "transmit". But somewhere along the way the X got twisted to where some writers/coders use "TX" for "transmit" and "RX" for "receive".
    – Hot Licks
    Apr 11, 2017 at 1:32
  • See also this Q on Rx, this on Rx/Sx/etc, and lots of other questions.
    – Stuart F
    Dec 11, 2023 at 20:08

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
15

I will go with @undefined: the abbreviation TX for internet transaction is borrowed from telegraph abbreviation for transmission, Tx, for an internet transaction involves sending a coded signal from my computer to , say Amazon.com, internet site.

Improve this answer
6

In the old days amateur radio operators, who abbreviated wildly because they were using Morse code keys to exchange information, used to use XCVR as transceiver and XMTR as transmitter. A lot of older programmers also have amateur radio licenses so they probably just continued the tradition. I cannot begin to guess how you would ever find the first use of TX, but I would bet it's everywhere in early data communication standards documentation.

Improve this answer
6

I have no evidence to support this answer, so feel free to downvote it, but this might help:

The X, itself, stands for trans (see also the answer by @undefined, with examples). I believe (again, I don't have proof) that this comes from the association of trans with its meaning of across (hence, a cross).

A guess (only a guess) would be that TX is related to this use of X.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.