The key difference between acronym and abbreviation is that acronym refers to a new word formed from the first letters of a series of words while abbreviation refers to any shortened form of a word or phrase. Most importantly, an acronym is pronounced as a word.
Abbreviation and acronym are two ways of shortening a long group of words or a large word. There are many ways to form abbreviations, and acronyms are one form of abbreviations.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is an Abbreviation
3. What is an Acronym
4. Side by Side Comparison – Acronym vs Abbreviation in Tabular Form
5. Summary
What is an Abbreviation?
The word abbreviation comes from the Latin word breves, which means short. An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Normally an abbreviation of a word begins with the initial letter of the word and contains a group of letters from the word. We use many abbreviations in our daily life. Some examples are Mr. for mister, govt. for government, ex. for example, prof. for professor, and dr. for doctor.
There are many ways to form abbreviations. Some of them include contractions, initialisms and acronyms. A contraction is a simple shorted form of a word, made by removing certain sounds or letters. For example; don’t, won’t, I’ve, etc. Initialism, on the other hand, is an abbreviation made by the first letters of a series of words. For instance, ASAP (as soon as possible), DIY (do it yourself), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), and CEO (chief executive officer). Initialisms are not pronounced as a word; the letters are read out individually.
What is an Acronym?
An acronym is a form of an abbreviation. Like initialism, it takes up initials of all the words in the phrase or group of words. The most notable feature of acronyms that sets it apart from other abbreviations is that is it pronounced as a separate word. For example, UNICEF is an acronym for United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, but we pronounce it an individual word. Furthermore, acronyms have both vowels and consonants in them so that it is easy to pronounce them.
Acronyms are generally written in capital letters; for example,
AIDS – Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome
NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization
RAM – Random Access Memory
ROM – Read Only Memory
RIP – Rest in Peace
OPEC -Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
SIM – Subscriber Identification Module
However, some acronyms have been in use for so long that they are considered as individual words. These are also written using lower case letters. Laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) and scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) are examples of such words.
Note that some acronyms form from non-initial letters as well. For instance, the word radar is the shortened form of radio detection and ranging.
What is the Difference Between Acronym and Abbreviation?
The key difference between acronym and abbreviation is that acronym refers to a new word formed from the first letters of a series of words while abbreviation refers to any shortened form of a word or phrase. Furthermore, there are several methods to form an abbreviation, and acronyms are one such form. The most noticeable feature of acronyms that sets it apart from other abbreviations is that acronyms are pronounced as individual words. Some examples of acronyms include AIDS, NATO, UNESCO, RAM, and LOL.
Summary – Acronym vs Abbreviation
There are several methods to form an abbreviation, and acronyms are one such form. The key difference between acronym and abbreviation is that acronym refers to a new word formed from the first letters of a series of words while abbreviation refers to any shortened form of a word or phrase.
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