Backronyms: FAKE Acronyms

We’ve talked about a lot of acronym things on here, including the difference between acronyms and initialisms, what a redundonym is, how to pluralize acronyms, whether an acronym needs periods, and whether “a” or “an” comes before an acronym. But we haven’t yet discussed one very important acronym topic: the imposters of the acronym world, the BACKronyms!

What Is a Backronym?

The word “backronym” is a combination of “back” and “acronym,” because they’re essentially backwards acronyms.

Most of the time, acronyms are created when someone has a series of words that they would like to abbreviate, so they take the first letter of each word and use them to form a new, shorter word. They start with the long, compound word and come out with a short abbreviation.

A backronym, however, begins with the abbreviation! Someone decides which word they want to be the acronym, and they make up words to go with each letter of that acronym.

Cambridge Dictionary defines a backronym as “an existing word, phrase, or abbreviation that has been made into an acronym.” Merriam-Webster describes a backronym as “an existing word, phrase, or name that is later used as or claimed to be an acronym.”

These two definitions illustrate the two different ways by which a backronym may come to be.

2 Possible Origins: Curated or Forgotten

So why would someone want to turn a random word into an acronym? They might be trying to create an acronym that is in itself descriptive of the thing it’s abbreviating, OR they might have forgotten altogether whether a word was or wasn’t an acronym in the first place!

A curated backronym happens when the abbreviation is chosen first and then words are filled in to fit the chosen acronym. One example is the USA PATRIOT Act. This acronym stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism,” which is quite a mouthful. Clearly, the spelled-out title of the Act didn’t come first—the creators wanted the words to spell out “USA PATRIOT,” and they chose words to fit that acronym.

It’s also possible for backronyms to happen accidentally. In some instances, no one remembers what the acronym stands for, so they fill in some words that make sense. An example of a forgotten backronym is “SOS.” Initially, “SOS” was chosen as the emergency communication code because the letters in morse code were easy to send and understand. Later, people added meaning to the letters (“save our ship” or “save our souls”).

More Backronym Examples

“Sic” is a Latin abbreviation that is sometimes used when an author is quoting another source. It means that whatever comes before it is quoted just as it appears in the original source—the author did not make a mistake or change. It’s often used when the original source has a spelling or grammatical error. “Sic” is Latin for “thus” or “just as that,” but some people have assigned meaning to the letters, such as “spelling is correct,” “spelled incorrectly,” or “said in context.”

Several Congressional acts are likely backronyms:

• The DAYLIGHT Act (Daylight All Year Leads to Ideal Gains in Happiness and Temperament)
• The ZOMBIE Act (Zeroing Out Money for Buying Influence after Elections)
• The CROOK Act (Countering Russian and Other Overseas Kleptocracy)
• The GIVE MILK Act (Giving Increased Variety to Ensure Milk Into the Lives of Kids)

FBI is an acronym standing for “Federal Bureau of Investigation,” but the Bureau’s motto is a backronym of this acronym: “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity.”

The Amber Alert system was originally named after a missing child, but later it became a backronym that stands for “America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.”

What questions do you have about backronyms? Let me know in the comments, and follow along for more grammar articles!

Click here to check out 17 words you never knew were acronyms!

Sources:

• “America’s Most Trusted Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed April 21st, 2025. https://www.merriam-webster.com/.
• “Backronym | Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge English Dictionary. Accessed April 21, 2025. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/backronym.