August 25, 1998

acronym; initialism

I always thought that acronym was defined as a type of abbreviation that could be pronounced, e.g. "OPEC." The Random House Dictionary of the English Language appears to support my belief by defining acronym as "a word formed from the initial letters..." Lately, however, I notice "acronym" increasingly applied to all abbreviations formed of initial letters, even those that cannot be pronounced as a word. It appears that this tendency will result in the loss of a useful distinction.

This confusion is caused not so much by the definitions you're reading, but by the imprecise nature of the words themselves.

In technical use among linguists and lexicographers, there are two main terms. An acronym is used for a word formed from the initial letters of the words (or main words) in a series of words, when the resulting word is pronounced as a word. Thus, OPEC, from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is considered an acronym, because it is pronounced "OH-peck," not as "Oh-pee-ee-see."

An initialism is used for a word formed from the initial letters of the words (or main words) in a series of words, when the resulting word is not pronounced as a word, but as individual letters spelled out. Thus, FBI, for Federal Bureau of Investigation, is considered an initialism, because it is pronounced "eff-bee-eye," as separate letters.

While this is a currently accepted usage of these words, this has not always been the case, and not everyone agrees on the terminology. Some people consider an acronym to be a type of initialism, instead of something that contrasts with it. Other forms can be hard to classify as well; sitcom, for example, is from situation comedy, but should it be considered an acronym or an abbreviation of a different type? Is BBC to be considered an initialism when pronounced "bee-bee-see," but an acronym when pronounced familiarly as "Beeb"?

In practice, especially among non-specialists, the term acronym is used to refer to any type of abbreviated form made from initial letters, regardless of the pronunciation of that form. The distinction between acronyms and initialisms is, I feel, worth making, but it is not one that has always been made, nor is it one that is maintained even now.

Though you didn't ask, there is no firm rule about how to style abbreviated forms with respect to capital letters and periods. Often a form could begin with capitals and periods, then go to capitals without periods, and sometimes go to lowercase (especially if it does not abbreviate the name of an organization); other such abbreviations have always been lowercase (radar; snafu). A single publication can have inconsistent styles, using U.S. for the United States but EC for the European Community. It is impossible to generalize about the process.

The word initialism dates from the late nineteenth century. Acronym pops up, conveniently, in the early 1940s, by which time we were deluged with the little suckers. (It is from elements, ultimately of Greek origin, meaning 'the tip of a word'.)