Words Like “FBI” Are Actually NOT Acronyms

Don’t panic! It’s true that words such as “FBI” and “TBA” are actually NOT acronyms at all, so you might be thinking that everything you’ve ever known is a lie (at least I did when I started learning about this). But really you just have to back it all up one step.

Acronyms are one kind of abbreviation, and another kind of abbreviation is initialisms. Both acronyms and initialisms fall under the umbrella of abbreviations, but they’re not quite the same thing.

Ready to learn the difference? Let’s go!

What Is an Acronym?

Technically speaking, an acronym is a pronounceable word that is formed from the initial letter or letters of each word in a compound term. So you take the first letter (or first few letters) of each word and put them together to create an entirely NEW word, and in order for that to be called an acronym, you must be able to pronounce it as one word.

The Chicago Manual of Style defines acronyms as “terms based on the initial letters of their various elements and read as a single word.”

Take the word laser, for example. This is an acronym formed from the words “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.” To make the acronym, we stole the first letters of those words and combined them to form an entirely new word. We don’t pronounce it “L-A-S-E-R,” saying each letter individually; we just say it as a single, new word: laser.

Acronym Examples

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

radar (radio detecting and ranging)

laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation)

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

CAPTCHA (completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart)

GIF (graphics interchange format)

FOMO (fear of missing out)

What Is an Initialism?

An initialism is also an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of a compound word, but unlike acronyms, you don’t pronounce initialisms as single words. Instead, you pronounce each letter individually.

Acronyms like “scuba” are pronounceable as words. Initialisms like “FBI” are not; rather, they are read as a series of letters.

Initialism Examples

FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)

FYI (for your information)

LOL (laugh out loud)

DVD (digital video disc)

CD (compact disc)

TBA (to be announced)

CNN (Cable News Network)

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

OMG (oh my god)

Blurred Lines

Each style guide that I consulted admitted that the definitions of acronyms and initialisms are not perfect. The Chicago Manual of Style notes that “sometimes a letter in an initialism is formed not, as the term might imply, from an initial letter, but rather from its initial sound (as the X in XML, for extensible markup language).”

Sometimes, acronyms and initialisms are combined, as in JPEG, which is only partially pronounced as a word. Other times, people don’t agree on whether an abbreviation should be read as a word or a series of letters, like with FAQ.

Although acronyms and initialisms are different kinds of abbreviations, the line between the two can sometimes be blurry.

Merriam-Webster notes that some people feel strongly that the two terms should be kept separate while other people use the word acronym to refer to both kinds of abbreviations. Most of the time, people will understand what you mean if you say acronym when you really mean initialism. Still, it’s good to know that there’s technically a difference!

Which Came First?

According to Merriam-Webster, acronym is a pretty new word! The first known use of the word was in the 1940s, although the concept definitely existed before we gave it a name.

The term initialism is much older, dating back to the 1840s.

Sources:

• “What’s an Acronym?” Merriam-Webster. Accessed December 9, 2024. https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/whats-an-acronym.
• 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.