100 Acronym Examples You Should Really Know

As a longtime copy editor and certified word nerd, nothing drives me crazier than seeing words misused. Whether it’s people saying accept when they mean except, supermarket checkout signs reading “10 items or less” (instead of the grammatically correct “10 items or fewer”), or that Alanis Morissette song that—ironically—contains nothing truly ironic, I can’t help but cringe. And of course, I always strive to avoid making the same mistakes myself.

Take, for example, the word acronym. These days, it’s casually thrown around to describe nearly any abbreviation we see in texts, emails and social media posts. But is that correct? Are all those acronym examples actually acronyms? Does the word apply to all those language shortcuts, regardless of how they’re formed? Honestly, I wasn’t sure.

To get to the bottom of it, I turned to two linguistics experts—Grant Barrett, a linguist, lexicographer and co-host of A Way with Words, a national radio show about language, and Michael Adams, PhD, a professor of English and linguistics at Indiana University—who helped me spell out the truth about acronyms. Read on for all the details, as well as dozens of acronym examples and what they stand for.

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What is an acronym, exactly?

An acronym is a shortened form of a word or phrase constructed by combining the first letter or syllable of each word in the phrase. The result is a new, single word, which is pronounced together phonetically as a word.

For example, the acronym FOMO is made up of the initial letters of the phrase “fear of missing out” to create a single word pronounced as “fo-mo.” Another common acronym example is PIN, an abbreviation that takes its letters from “personal identification number” and is pronounced as “pin.” Don’t say “PIN number,” BTW—it’s redundant, since the acronym already contains the word number.

Oh, and BTW: BTW is not an acronym. Yes, it’s formed by the first letters of the words in the phrase “by the way.” But since you pronounce each letter individually (“B-T-W”) and don’t pronounce it as a single word (I don’t even know what that would sound like), it’s not an acronym. It’s actually something called an initialism, and abbreviations like OOO, CEO and PTO are also examples of that. In fact, many of the terms we often think of as workplace acronyms are actually not acronyms! (More on initialisms below.)

How long have acronyms been around?

Here’s a little bit of history trivia for you: While abbreviations go back to ancient times, acronyms only came into play in the late 19th century. The first known acronyms in English appear in a telegraph code developed in 1879 for the United Press Association. Among those acronyms: SCOTUS for “Supreme Court of the United States” and POT for “President of the United States” (though by 1895, that one had evolved into POTUS). Still, “it surprises people to find that it’s that old,” Barrett acknowledges.

The need for quick and efficient communication during World Wars I and II contributed to the spread of acronyms. Think military terms like AWOL (“Absent Without Leave”) and RADAR (“Radio Detection and Ranging”). In fact, the increased use of acronyms during this period is probably why 1943 is the earliest recorded instance of the word acronym, per the Oxford English Dictionary.

Acronyms really took off with the rise of computers and the internet, and then later exploded with texting and social media. As Barrett points out: “Writing is boring, writing is intensive, and we’re always looking for ways to economize on space and the amount of effort we have to put in.”

Acronym examples

Some popular acronyms are used so often that people tend to forget the words they represent. Here are 100 acronyms you should know.

Common acronyms

Workplace acronyms

Military and government acronyms

Tech acronyms

Brand acronyms

Organization acronyms

Education acronyms

Medical acronyms

Entertainment acronyms

Sports acronyms

FAQs

Is OMG an acronym?

The shortened form of “Oh My God,” OMG, is not an acronym. An acronym is pronounced as a word (see that very long list above). In the case of OMG, we pronounce each individual letter—”O-M-G”—instead of pronouncing it as a single word. That means OMG is not an acronym. It’s an initialism.

What’s the difference between an acronym and initialism?

Acronyms and initialisms are both formed by combining the first letters or syllables of each word in a phrase. The difference lies in how they are pronounced.

As noted above, in an acronym, the first letter or syllable of each word in a phrase is combined to create a new, single word, which is pronounced together phonetically. For example, the acronym YOLO is made up of the initial letters of the phrase “You Only Live Once” to create a single word pronounced “yo-lo.”

In an initialism, while the first letter of each word in a phrase is also combined into a string of letters, each is pronounced separately. When you need cash, for example, you ask: “Where’s the closest A-T-M?” pronouncing each individual letter of “Automated Teller Machine.” You don’t ask for the location of the nearest ateem.

Here are a few other common initialism examples:

• BRB: Be Right Back
• DIY: Do It Yourself
• FYI: For Your Information
• LOL: Laugh Out Loud
• TTYL: Talk To You Later

Is ASAP an acronym or initialism?

Fun fact: ASAP is actually an example of an acronym and an initialism. You can say “ay-sap” (an acronym) or “A-S-A-P” (an initialism) to make it clear that you need something as soon as possible.

Incidentally, though an acronym and an initialism are two different things, don’t be surprised by some people lumping them all together in one category. “Most people just call them acronyms and move on,” says Barrett. “They don’t even know the word initialism.” But you do now, so don’t refer to an initialism like IRS (for “Internal Revenue Service”) as an acronym.

What’s the difference between an acronym and an abbreviation?

An acronym is a type of abbreviation that forms a single pronounceable word from the first letter or syllable of each word in a phrase. An abbreviation is any shortened form of a word or phrase. So all acronyms are abbreviations, but not all abbreviations are acronyms.

Acronyms and initialisms are formed by combining the first letters or syllables of each word in a phrase, but abbreviations may also be created by:

• Removing letters and replacing them with an apostrophe in contractions like don’t and can’t.
• Removing entire syllables from words, usually from the end, to form clipped words like exam (for examination) and lab (for laboratory).

You may be surprised to learn that abbreviations have been around since ancient times. “At the beginning, it’s all shortened forms of words,” says Adams, “either metaphorical in the case of hieroglyphics, or in the case of cuneiform (wedge-shaped characters that form ancient writing in places like Mesopotamia and Persia), the recombination of a very small number of elements to make cuneiform patterns that count as words or phrases.”

Barrett says that practice continued with the advent of alphabetic writing: “It was very common for people to abbreviate and just they use the documents to hint at what the knowledge is, rather than explicitly explain it. It’s very much a modern—by modern, the last 400 or 500 years—to think that you have to spell everything out in detail.”

Today, abbreviations are more prevalent than ever, reflecting our ongoing need for speed and efficiency in communication.

Is Wi-Fi an acronym or an initialism?

Believe it or not, Wi-Fi isn’t an acronym or an initialism. In fact, it’s not an abbreviation of any kind because it doesn’t actually stand for anything! Many people think Wi-Fi means “Wireless Fidelity,” but it doesn’t. It’s a brand name that was created by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance in 1999—how’s that for an interesting fact?

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At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. For this piece on acronym examples, Jo Ann Liguori tapped her decades of experience as a copy editor to ensure that all information is accurate and offers the best possible advice to readers. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.

Sources:

• Grant Barrett, linguist, lexicographer and co-host of A Way with Words; phone interview, Feb. 13, 2025
• Michael Adams, professor of English and linguistics at Indiana University Bloomington and author of Word Mysteries and Histories: From Abracadabra to Zeus; phone interview, Feb. 14, 2025
• Grammarly: “The 5 Types of Abbreviations”
• Grammarly: “What Is an Acronym? Definition and Examples”
• New York Times Magazine: “On Language: Acronym”
• Oxford English Dictionary: “Acronym”
• World Wide Words: “POTUS”
• Oxford English Dictionary: “Wi-Fi”

Matthew Cohen/Rd.com, Nicole Fornabaio/Rd.com

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