Meaning of Acronym (What is, Concept and Definition)

What is Acronym:

An acronym is a term formed by each of the initial letters of an expression composed of several words .The word acronym, as such, comes from the late Latin acronym , which means 'figures' or 'abbreviations'.

The letters that make up the acronym are also known by the name of the acronym in question .If, for example, OAS stands for Organization of American States, just as the letters or , e and a .

The acronym is used to refer in short to organizations, institutions, companies, associations, objects, devices, technologies, systems, methods, etc., whose names are composed of several terms.

Rules for the composition of acronyms

In the formation of acronyms not all words are taken, but only nouns, verbs and adjectives, while the articles , determinants, prepositions and conjunc ions are not taken into account.For example: United Nations Organization results in UN.

Accents

Acronyms should never be accentuated, even when one of the letters you take was originally accentuated, even when the current spelling conventions so suppose.For example: NATO, of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or CPI, of consumer price index.

Plural words

The acronym that abbreviates two plural words must be written with double initials: US, United States, or HR, human resources.

Capital letters

The acronym as a rule should be written in capital letters (OAS, VAT, FIFA), except in cases where as a result of their use they are considered as common name by dictionaries, as in the case of UFO, of or bjeto v n or i dentist, uci, of or c care i ntensives.

Points and spaces

Acronyms should not be separated by points or spaces, for example: ICU, intensive care unit, USA, United States.

Plural

Acronyms do not have graphic plurals.To mark a plural the acronym of an article, a demonstrative or an adjective must be accompanied.For example: " las ONG...", " these NGOs..."," some important NGOs..."It is incorrect to indicate the plural in writing by adding a -s at the end: NGOs, NGOs.

Gender

The acronym adopts the genre of the main word of the expression, for example, in UN, of Organization of the United Nations, the main term is "organization", which is feminine, then we will talk about the UN.

Letters and numbers

The acronym can also be formed by combining numbers and letters, for example: G8, from group of eight, or 11-S, from September 11.

Pronunciation

acronyms can pro Nunciation by spelling or syllable pronunciation:

Spelling

By spelling, the acronym is referred to by articulating the name of each of the letters of which it is composed, as an NGO, pronounced “or-ene-ge ”.

Syllabic pronunciation

In the syllable pronunciation, the acronym is read as a word, however, for this the composition of the acronym must allow its pronunciation, for example, NATO can be pronounced “otan.”

Acronyms and acronyms

It happens that when a acronym is so frequent that it can be considered fully incorporated into the vocabulary of the language, then it goes on to become a common word, and, consequently, is governed by the current spelling rules of the language, this means that it adopts the conventions for the formation of plurals (UFOs), for its accentuation (laser, plane), and that it can be written in lower case, except when referring to a proper name, in which case the initial will be capitalized as long as This is made up of more than four letters.For example: Unesco, from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization .

See also Acronym.

Examples of acronyms

• ONU, of O organization of the N ations U nests.
• OAS, of O organization of E stados Aamericanos.
• NATO, of O organization of T ratado del A tlantico Norte.
• IPC, from i index of p hard at c onsumo.
• VAT, from i set to v alor to added.
• FIFA, F ederacion I international of F utbol A partner.
• RAE, from R eal A cademia Espanola.
• GDP, from p roducto i nterno bruto.
• IMF, from F ondo M onetario I international.
• DNI, of d ocumento n ation of i dentity.
• APA, from A merican P sychological A ssociation or 'American Psychological Association'.
• ICU, of or c unit i ntens ivos.
• NGO, from or organization n or g governmental.
• Unesco, from U nited N ations E ducational, S cientific and C ultural O rganization , or 'United Nations Cultural, Scientific and Educational Organization'.

See also Difference between acronym and acronym.