Acronyms and initialisms

When the first letters of words that make up a name or a phrase are used to create a new word , the results are called acronyms or initialisms.

In acronyms, the new word is pronounced as a word, rather than as a series of letters. For example, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome gives us AIDS, pronounced [eidz]. And self-contained underwater breathing apparatus gives us scuba. Note in the case of scuba, the acronym has become so familiar to English speakers that many do not know that it’s an acronym! My favorite current acronym is the DUMP, a term universally used in Durham, New Hampshire to refer to a local supermarket with the unwittingly unfortunate name ‘the Durham Market Place’.

Initialisms are similar to acronyms in that they are composed from the first letters of a phrase, but unlike acronyms, they are pronounced as a series of letters. So most people in the US refer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the FBI pronounced [ɛf bi ai]. Other initialisms are PTA for Parent Teacher Association, PR for either ‘public relations’ or ‘personal record’, and NCAA for National College Athletic Association.