Questions tagged [abbreviations]
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word, or phrase, typically created by taking initial letters for example OEM for Original Equipment Manufacturer or shortening the word, for example 'Tues' for Tuesday.
826
questions
0
votes
0
answers
30
views
vs meaning in english [closed]
In English, to compare several items, it is written
item 1 vs item 2
Is this an abbreviation of a word?
What is the exact meaning of vs ?
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
46
views
What are the plural equivalents of Messrs for Ms, Miss & Mrs? [duplicate]
Mr. smith and Mr. Jones can be expressed as Messrs. Smith and Jones.
How can Ms. Smith and Ms. Jones, or Miss Smith and Miss Jones, or Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones respectively be so consolidated?
- 439
0
votes
0
answers
121
views
"2+ Million" or "2 Million+"?
When using a plus sign for brevity in a phrase like "over two million", where should the plus sign go?
2+ Million
2 Million+
The same concept would happen with thousand, billion, etc.
- 9
-1
votes
3
answers
124
views
Abbreviation for "read as", often used for spelling out euphemisms
A long time ago, I had a teacher who said you could write "lit." to mean "read this as". The typical example is to provide a tongue-in-cheek translation from English to English, ...
0
votes
1
answer
88
views
is it correct to say "as per your comfort" or "at your comfort" [closed]
I find saying/writing,
"As per your convenience"
And
"At your convenience"
too lengthy, cumbersome, etc.
Therefore, is it correct to say "as per your comfort" or "at ...
- 149
4
votes
1
answer
164
views
Is there a name for such political abbreviations as "libfem" for liberal feminism and "ancap" for anarcho-capitalism? [closed]
In the last ten years or so, I've seen these strange abbreviations all over the Internet. Besides the ones in the above title, I've seen these examples: "tradcath", "nazbol", "...
- 376
1
vote
1
answer
247
views
Why represent percentages with "pc" rather than "%"?
I've seen more and more well respected publications expressing percentages using the abbreviation "pc". E.g. Telegraph:
How else to explain the decision to award a board seat to the boss of ...
- 284
0
votes
0
answers
121
views
What is the opposite of et seq.?
What Latin-derived abbreviation could be used in place of "and the previous ones" or "and the predecessors" i.e., the opposite of et seq.?
I can't start from the other end and use ...
- 243
-2
votes
1
answer
55
views
hereinafter or abbreviate [closed]
In my document if I mention the first time "File 1234 (in the Official Records hereinafter)", then after that in the same document if I say "File 5678", will that mean that "...
- 1
6
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What is the origin of shorthand for "with" -> "w/"?
In many places, I've seen "w/" written instead of "with". At least, I think that one replaces the other. I couldn't find anywhere what is the origin of "w/".
Is this ...
- 345
33
votes
6
answers
5k
views
Why are "i.e." and "e.g." written in lower case with periods, while "NB" is typically written in CAPS with no periods?
According to my armchair research on common abbreviations of nota bene, it appears that NB is the most common now, with N.B. being more common in centuries past after taking over the "original&...
0
votes
1
answer
75
views
What's the correct way to write our names? [closed]
Most people who live in my locality write their names with initials at the
end. Usually these initials are abbreviations of long family names, like
Joseph Alex TP, where TP stands for ...
- 25
0
votes
0
answers
16
views
Which indefinite article are we supposed to use before a known abbreviated noun starting with "H"? [duplicate]
I'm asking this because I couldn't find any answer on whether I should use "a" or "an" before an abbreviated word starting with "H" like "H.B.H", People seem to ...
- 11
1
vote
1
answer
53
views
Why a slash in with abbreviation instead of a dot? [duplicate]
I see some people abbreviate "with" as "w/". Why? It bugs me to see a slash in an abbreviation when it does not mean "or". Any reason or rule? Are there other examples?
- 474
1
vote
3
answers
230
views
How to Un-Abbreviate " Y'all's"
I shared an article in a group chat of my friends and wanted to ask for their opinions.
"Curious to hear y'all's thoughts?"
But I wanted to sound proper and smart.
If "y'all" means ...
1
vote
2
answers
377
views
How to put possessive 's after a full company name
I need advise on how we correctly use the possessive 's (i.e. apostrophe + s) after a full company name with abbreviation.
E.g., will "Company Name ltd." become "Company Name ltd.'s&...
- 119
0
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is nr. a correct abbreviation for the word number?
I'm a native German speaker. My daughter is learning (British) English in school. She wrote her first English test and got it back from the teacher now.
I'm surprised the title of the test was
class ...
- 299
0
votes
0
answers
17
views
Should a comma appear inside the quotations in these instances?
Here are the sentences:
"You have to get up before 8:00 a.m." John said.
"We talked about everything--books, cars, girls, movies, etc." John said.
The question is whether a comma ...
- 1
-2
votes
1
answer
119
views
Is "aka" used in some instances to mean "meaning" more than "also known as"?
I am a native English speaker, and I recently realized that I use "aka" in sentences where substituting "also known as" wouldn't make complete sense. For example, I might say or ...
- 17
1
vote
0
answers
159
views
How would you abbreviate weekday schedules like "M-F" to less than 3 letters per day if the days contain Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and/or Sunday? [closed]
In some apps, there is a character limit, so instead of abbreviating something like "Tue-Thu" or "Sat-Sun", a few characters can matter, so I was wondering what the best way to ...
- 139
-2
votes
3
answers
85
views
Abbreviate "Windows 7 and higher versions" [closed]
In my software, I need to add a label to express "Windows 7 and higher versions". Due to the limited space, I want to abbreviate the text, meanwhile make sure the text looks official for a ...
- 97
0
votes
1
answer
66
views
To notate a weekday schedule like "M-F" or "M~F", what is more commonly used, a hyphen "-" or tilde "~"?
I ask this under the assumption that "M-F" and "M~F" are the most commonly preferred notations for abbreviation weekday schedules if using 3-letter abbreviations like "Mon&...
- 139
1
vote
2
answers
231
views
How to differentiate the short form of "would" and "had"? [closed]
How do you differentiate:
I'd always longed to see... = I would always longed to see...
VS
I'd always longed to see.. = I had always longed to see..
- 31
0
votes
0
answers
275
views
Is there a method to abbreviate words down to 4 letters? [closed]
Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but this is what I’m trying to do. I want to find words that are understandable in a compressed form (4 letters at the most). For example, Equity can be ...
- 117
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is there an abbreviation for "Professors" plural, in a greeting at the top of a formal letter?
I am writing a letter to two professors. Normally I abbreviate "Professor" to "Prof." in the greeting. Is there a way to do that when I need the plural? Or do I have to write ...
- 21.4k
5
votes
2
answers
451
views
What is it called when a word is abbreviated from the middle? (Ex: fridge from reFRIGErator)
Fridge, the middle part of the word refrigerator (ok, with an extra letter...), is often used as an abbreviation (mainly in British English).
Is there a name for such words where we use an abbreviated ...
- 68
0
votes
0
answers
185
views
Abbreviation for Estimating a time something happened in a timeline list
So I have a timeline list. Certain things happened at a known time but other times are estimates.
In my example below, the first item is a known time. The second and third items are estimated times ...
- 1
0
votes
0
answers
27
views
a LAN vs an LAN [duplicate]
LAN is the abbreviation for local area network. According to dictionaries, it has two variants of the pronunciation: [læn] and [ˌeleɪˈen]. Does it mean we can write both "a LAN" and "an ...
- 517
1
vote
0
answers
26
views
Is it "a SW" or "an SW"? [duplicate]
First of all: I am aware of the rule for "a" vs. "an" be it a noun or an abbreviation following (see When should I use "a" vs "an"?). So following this rule the ...
- 111
0
votes
0
answers
23
views
Preferred abbreviations of 'versus' according to Anglophone country? [duplicate]
I am already aware that for example BE and AE have different opinions on using periods in abbreviations. Today, I am interested in variations among English speaking countries (specifically: UK, USA, ...
- 183
0
votes
0
answers
27
views
Can an abbreviation of a verb be classified as a nominalisation?
For example, in the abbreviation for the fictional organisation "SCP Foundation", "SCP" is short for "Secure, Contain, Protect."
Would this classify the term "SCP&...
1
vote
0
answers
32
views
National tragedy date shorthand (a la 9/11)
Has anyone coined a term for the post-2001 trend of shortening infamous events to the event's dates? For example, here in the U.S. we have 9/11 and more recently, January 6th. In the UK they have 7/7, ...
- 11
-1
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Is it proper to write a full first name followed by an initial of the last name? [closed]
For example, if my name was John Smith, can I write it as “John S.”?
Also, if I want to start with the initial of the last name, how would I write it? Is it “S. John”?
I’m asking because I’m having my ...
- 1
-2
votes
1
answer
155
views
2-letter abbreviation for the name Montgomery
Background:
I'm implementing elliptic curve cryptography in a hobbyist project of mine. And two kinds of the curves I'm about implement are Edwards curve and Montgomery curve (this and this).
For the ...
- 141
0
votes
1
answer
47
views
Simple Abbreviation Confusion
You know that a lot of words can be abbreviated like:
You know -> y'know
About -> 'bout
Going to -> gonna
and much more
To be honest, I found one interesting abbreviation:
Of course ->...
- 71
-1
votes
1
answer
297
views
Is the abbreviation “Id” acceptable in an essay?
If I need to write “Apple Id”, in an essay, should I write “Apple Identification”? “Id” is an abbreviation for “identification” so would it be proper to write “Apple Identification” instead?
- 99
0
votes
0
answers
172
views
Proper Grammar of Degree Abbreviations
I have seen plenty of abbreviation options to write Postgraduate Diploma.
Just to mention the easiest finding on the web: "A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PG, PDE) ...
- 1
0
votes
2
answers
252
views
Abbreviation for 'further information can be found'
I am looking for the formal abbreviation for something like "the further information can be found", e.g.: "lorem ipsum (the further information can be found in table 2.4)".
My ...
- 43
0
votes
0
answers
22
views
What's the difference between two capitalization styles related to acronym? [duplicate]
I know NAT is the abbreviation of "Network address translation", but there is another style of this phrase, "Network Address Translation", which capitalize the first letter of each ...
- 1
1
vote
2
answers
128
views
Weird word that I and my cousins used to say when young?
When I was young, my cousins and I used to use the word: "Hon" (at least that's how I would write it) to get validation from another person that something occurred.
Example:
Hon Alex that ...
1
vote
1
answer
3k
views
Abbreviation for Ton
I went to wikipedia looking for the symbol/abbreviation for ton. t would be ambiguous since there is both a short ton and a long ton, which mean two different weights.
I cannot find a standard ...
- 143
0
votes
0
answers
12
views
Apostrophe after Acronym that ends in "S" [duplicate]
What are the rules for using apostrophes after an acronym that ends in the letter "S"?
For instance, if I have a pretend product called Fast Ice Cream System, or FICS, which delivers ice ...
- 101
0
votes
1
answer
51
views
Whether to use "the" before abbreviations such as HTTP
... This setting determines whether HTTP and FTP URIs should be turned into relative ones if a file is stored using the HTTP or the FTP.
HTTP stands for hypertext transfer protocol, and FTP stands ...
- 555
0
votes
1
answer
117
views
Using abbreviations in 15th Century English
I am writing a story set in the 15th Century. I appreciate that most stories etc were written at the time in either Latin or French but, for obvious reasons, I have to write it in English. It is ...
2
votes
0
answers
35
views
Spacing in name abbreviations [duplicate]
Should the boy's name C.J. be abbreviated this way, as C. J. with a space, or as CJ without periods or spaces? I'm sure this is somewhere in the Chicago Manual of Style, but don't see it mentioned ...
4
votes
1
answer
165
views
Prefixed words in English whose abbreviations skip the prefixes
I was writing an article about certain abbreviations in German. Two of the terms being abbreviated were Verschmelzungsfunktion and Vertauschungsfunktion. Abbreviating both of them as V would have ...
- 734
0
votes
0
answers
32
views
When should we use "US" "U.S."? [duplicate]
From my understanding, the dot "." standing behind a word means abbreviation. For example, "e.g." stands for "exempli gratia".
So, I think if we want to write the ...
- 113
2
votes
0
answers
80
views
How did "combo" arise as an abbreviation for "combination"? [duplicate]
I am interested in the shortening of "combination" to "combo." I understand the etymology of "combination," and it's clear to me how "comb-" would be used taken ...
- 21
5
votes
1
answer
675
views
How common are hypocorisms ending with "s" in female names? (Babs, Bess, Becks...)
My question can be split in two parts:
Is this a pattern, how common is it, and how natural does it sound?
Is it more specific to feminine names?
Here are examples:
Barbara - Babs [1]
Elizabeth - ...
- 160
0
votes
1
answer
76
views
What is 'e. m.' in this sentence?
What does this abbreviation (e. m.) stand for? It seems to me that e.m. is an abbreviation of 'essential medical'. Is this a technical phrase?
They evac’d only 27 e.m. plus 1 officer from Maisaka, ...
- 819