List of acronyms

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)

• BAR - Buy American Restrictions
• 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
• COLA - cost of living adjustment - comp.os.linux.announce
• CREEP - Committee to Re-elect the President
• DBE - Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• DIMM - double in-line memory module (computing)
• DINK - Double income, no kids
• DIP - dual in-line package (electronics)
• DOI - Digital Object Identifier
• DOS - Density of State / Disk Operating System / Denial of Service

• EPCOT - Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow

• FARC - Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)
• 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
• FUD - Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt (marketing strategy)
• 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

• KARNAC - Knowledge Aided Retrieval in Activity Context
• KISS - Keep it simple stupid

• LAN - Local Area Network
• Laser - Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
• LIFO - Last in, first out
• LUCA - Last Universal Common Ancestor

• MAD - magnetic anomaly detector - mutual assured destruction
• MADD - Mothers Against Drunk Driving - Myoadenylate deaminase deficiency
• 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
• MOAB - mother of all bombs
• MOPE - Most Oppressed People Ever (politics)
• MPEG - Motion Pictures (Coding) Experts Group

• NAAFI - Navy, Army and Air Force Institute (British)
• NAMBLA - North American Man-Boy Love Association - National Associaton of Marlon Brando Look-Alikes
• 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
• OPAC - Online Public Access Catalogue
• OPEC - Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries

• Pakistan - Punjab, Afghan States, Kashmir, Sindh, Baluchistan
• PAL - Phase Alternating Line (TV standard)
• PAL - Philippine Airlines
• PARC - Palo Alto Research Center
• PARWIG - Power Augmented Ram Wing in Ground (aeroplane wing shape)
• PETA - pentaerythritol triacrylate - People Eating Tasty Animals - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
• PITA - Pain In The Ass
• POG - Passionfruit, Orange and Guava
• POTS - Plain Old Telephone Service, also PANS - Pretty Advanced (or Awsome) Network Services

• Qantas - Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services
• QDOS - Quick and Dirty Operating System
• Quango - (British Commonwealth) QUasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation
• Quasar - Quasi-stellar radio source

• Radar - Radio detection and ranging
• RAM - Random Access Memory, Royal Air Maroc
• REACT - Remote Electronically Activated Control Technology
• ROM - Read Only Memory

• SALT - Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
• SAM - sequential-access memory - surface-to-air missile - Sociedad Aeronáutica de Medellín
• SAVAK - Sazamane Etelaat va Amniate Kechvar (Iranian Security and Intelligence Service)
• SARS - Severe acute respiratory syndrome
• SCRAM - safety control rod axe man
• SCSI (technically pronounced "scuzzy") - small computer system interface
• Scuba - Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
• SEATO - Southeast Asian Treaty Organization
• SECAM - Systeme Electronique Couleur Avec Memoire (TV standard)
• SETI - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
• SIMM - single in-line memory module
• 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
• Stuka - Sturzkampfflugzeug (Diving Warplane)
• 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)
• TEAL - Tasman Empire Airways Limited
• TEETH - Tried Everything Else, Try Homoeopathy (medical diagnosis in-joke)
• TOS - Terms of Service
• TUG - TeX Users Group

• 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
• UNPROFOR - United Nations Protection Force
• URL - Uniform Resource Locator (when pronounced as earl)

• WAN - Wide Area Network
• WASP - white anglo-saxon protestant
• WHO - World Health Organisation
• WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get

• XrML - eXtensible Rights Markup Language

• Yippie - Youth International Party + suffix
• Yuppie - Young Urban Professional + suffix

• ZIP code - Zoning Improvement Plan

Words that may not be acronyms, but folk etymology says 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
• Rap - Rhythm and poetry (AFAIK: Rhythmical African Poetry)
• Tips - To insure prompt service
• Pom - (Australian English) Prisoner of His Majesty

See also: backronym, list of initialisms, list of US Army acronyms, List of government and military acronyms

External links

• Acronym Finder
• Apronyms & Acronyms
• Need an apronym created?

Referenced By