When Should You Spell Out an Acronym?

When you use an acronym in your writing, do you need to spell out what it stands for every time? Wouldn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of using the acronym in the first place?

Some acronyms are very well-known, and in those cases, you probably don’t need to spell them out at all. But how well-known does the acronym need to be for that to be true? And for those less-known acronyms, do you have to spell them out every time you use them? Let’s dig in and find out.

What Are Acronyms?

An acronym is created when you take the initial letter (or letters) of each word in a compound term and put them all together to create a NEW word. Some examples are NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), radar (radio detecting and ranging), and GIF (graphics interchange format).

Technically speaking, in order for the new word to be called an acronym, you must be able to pronounce it as a single word. If you say each letter individually (like “F-B-I”), then it’s an initialism. Some examples of initialisms are CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), FYI (for your information), and LOL (laugh out loud).

So abbreviations like “scuba” that are pronounceable as words are called acronyms, and abbreviations like “DVD” where you pronounce each letter individually are called initialisms. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to lump them both together under the term “acronym,” but just be aware that those different categories do exist!

Which Acronyms Need to Be Spelled Out?

Any acronym that might be unfamiliar to your readers should be spelled out the first time you use it.

If you know your readers well enough to know which acronyms they might not recognize, you can make that call yourself. If you’re not 100% sure, follow this rule from The Copyeditor’s Handbook: “Acronyms that appear in the alphabetical section of a standard dictionary (e.g., AIDS, DNA, LSD, REM, VCR) need not be introduced or spelled out, even on first mention in a document. This principle also applies to the acronyms of extremely well known organizations (e.g., AFL-CIO, CIA, FBI, IRS, NATO, YMCA).”

Here are some more acronyms that are very well-known and probably don’t need to be spelled out:

• ATM
• DIY
• GPS
• HMO
• HTML
• IQ
• JPEG
• laser

So if the acronym appears in the dictionary with its own entry or is a very well-known organization, you don’t need to spell it out at all (not even the first time you mention it). But if neither of those qualifications is met, go ahead and spell out the acronym the first time you use it.

If your audience includes readers in other countries, remember that they might not be familiar with organizational acronyms from your country. The rule of thumb is “when in doubt, spell it out.” It never hurts to spell out the acronym!

If you plan to use a less familiar acronym, think twice about whether it’s worth introducing in the first place. Only use less familiar abbreviations if the terms occur frequently in your text; if you’re only going to use the term once or twice, it’s probably not worth introducing a new acronym, and you can just spell out the term each time.

However, if the term will occur frequently (a good rule might be five times or more within the paper or chapter), then it would be worth it to introduce a new acronym. Just be sure you spell it out the first time so your readers understand it.

It’s All About Your Readers

It’s really ALL about your readers. It doesn’t matter how common other people think the acronym is—if your readers might not know it, you should spell out the acronym the first time you use it. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to know your audience!

For example, if you’re a scientist writing a paper for other professional scientists, you can probably use many scientific acronyms without spelling them out, and your audience will understand them all. An accountant writing a report that is meant for other accountants can use acronyms like FASB, IRR, and ROI, which might not be commonplace for other people, but all accountants will immediately understand.

If your audience is broader and includes readers who don’t specialize in the topic of your writing, you’ll likely need to explain more acronyms to make sure that everyone is on the same page.

When Is the Best Time to Introduce an Acronym?

The best time to introduce an acronym by spelling it out is the very first time you use it. That way, your readers know what you’re talking about and will recognize the acronym moving forward. Here’s an example:

• “The Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is a time share program run by the Walt Disney Company. Members of the DVC choose a home resort and can use their points to book stays each year.”

Sometimes, you might introduce an acronym once and use it a few times in that section or chapter, but then it’s a long time before the acronym comes up again. In those situations, it might be helpful to repeat the spelled-out name of the acronym as a reminder to your readers.

For example, let’s say you’re working on a long report at work and the acronym you want to use is first mentioned on page 4. Then, however, the acronym doesn’t come up again until page 18. You should introduce the acronym both on page 4 and then again the first time you use it on page 18, just in case your readers forgot what it stands for.

How to Introduce an Acronym

There are a few different ways to introduce an acronym. The most common way is to spell out the term and then put the acronym in parentheses right after:

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) . . .
• The technology for optical character recognition (OCR) has . . .

If the parentheses look too messy to you or if you want to incorporate the acronym more conversationally into your writing, you may introduce it like this:

• The International Monetary Fund, or IMF, . . .
• The technology for optimal character recognition—or OCR—has . . .

If this construction would make for an awkward sentence, you can either rewrite the sentence or introduce the acronym on the second mention of the term:

• AWKWARD (because it’s part of a compound word): In our neighborhood, you must purchase the Home Owners’ Association (HOA)–approved garbage cans.
• BETTER: In our neighborhood, you must purchase the garbage cans that have been approved by the Home Owners’ Association (HOA).
• ALSO BETTER: In our neighborhood, you must purchase the Home Owners’ Association–approved garbage cans. The Home Owners’ Association (HOA) will then send you stickers to place on the cans.

A few acronyms are better known by their acronym than by their full name, but they might need to be spelled out to make sure that your readers know what the acronym stands for. In these situations, you can put the spelled-out version in parentheses after the acronym:

• The CPU (central processing unit) appears to be malfunctioning.

Be Kind to Your Readers . . .

The biggest thing to remember with acronyms is audience awareness. Be kind to your readers!

If you’re using a lot of different acronyms in your text, it might be good to have a list of acronyms at the beginning or end that your readers can refer to at their convenience.

If you’re writing a long document with lots of unfamiliar acronyms, your readers will probably appreciate reminders about what those acronyms stand for if you haven’t used them in the last few pages.

There is no set rule about when to spell out acronyms. The most important thing is to make sure that your readers know what the acronym stands for. Think about your audience, and spell out the acronyms whenever you need to with them in mind!

What questions do you have about spelling out acronyms? Let me know in the comments!

Click here to learn about “backronyms”: backwards acronyms!

Sources:

• The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
• Einsohn, Amy. The Copyeditor’s Handbook. 3rd ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: Univ of California Pr, 2011.