Acronym

==Changes to (or wordplay on) the expanded meaning==
=== Pseudo-acronyms and orphan initialisms<span class="anchor" id="Pseudo-acronyms"></span><span class="anchor" id="Orphan initialisms"></span><!--redirects to this section -->===
Some apparent acronyms or other abbreviations do not stand for anything and cannot be expanded to some meaning. Such pseudo-acronyms may be pronunciation-based, such as "BBQ" (''bee-bee-cue''), for "barbecue", and "K9" (''kay-nine'') for "canine". Pseudo-acronyms also frequently develop as "orphan initialisms"; an existing acronym is redefined as a non-acronymous name, severing its link to its previous meaning.<ref name=upenn>{{cite web |url= http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003555.html |work=[[Language Log]] |title=Orphan Initialisms |date=September 7, 2006 |first=Arnold |last=Zwicky |author-link=Arnold Zwicky |editor-first=Mark |editor-last=Liberman |editor-link=Mark Liberman |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |access-date=September 27, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100621181657/http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003555.html |archive-date=June 21, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=about>[http://grammar.about.com/b/2010/06/02/what-does-bp-stand-for.htm What Does "BP" Stand For?] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121118220424/http://grammar.about.com/b/2010/06/02/what-does-bp-stand-for.htm |date=November 18, 2012}}</ref> For example, the letters of the "[[SAT]]", a US college entrance test originally dubbed "Scholastic Aptitude Test", no longer officially stand for anything.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/02/us/insisting-it-s-nothing-creator-says-sat-not-sat.html |title=Insisting It's Nothing, Creator Says SAT, Not S.A.T. |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 2, 1997 |last=Applebome |first=Peter |access-date=February 14, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170417203501/http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/02/us/insisting-it-s-nothing-creator-says-sat-not-sat.html |archive-date=April 17, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title= Changes to SAT Make Test More Coachable |last=Komarek |first=Dan |newspaper=[[Daily Californian]] |date=July 29, 2003}}</ref> The US-based [[Abortion-rights movements|abortion-rights]] organization "[[NARAL Pro-Choice America|NARAL]]" is another example of this; in that case, the organization changed its name three times, with the long-form of the name always corresponding to the letters "NARAL", before eventually opting to simply be known by the short-form, without being connected to a long-form.

This is common with companies that want to retain [[brand recognition]] while moving away from an outdated image: American Telephone and Telegraph became [[AT&T Corporation|AT&T]]<ref name=upenn /> and [[BP|British Petroleum]] became BP.<ref name=about /><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=287 |title=BP plc History |access-date=September 29, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100615011613/http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=287 |archive-date=June 15, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[RT (TV network)|Russia Today]]'' has rebranded itself as ''RT''. [[American Movie Classics]] has simply rebranded itself as AMC. Genzyme Transgenics Corporation became GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc.; [[The Learning Channel]] became TLC; [[MTV]] dropped the name Music Television out of its brand; and [[American District Telegraph]] became simply known as ADT. "[[KFC|Kentucky Fried Chicken]]" went partway, re-branding itself with its initialism "KFC" to de-emphasize the role of frying in the preparation of its signature dishes, although in this case, "KFC" remains a true initialism which still officially stands for "Kentucky Fried Chicken".<ref>{{cite news |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n8_v25/ai_10403447 |title=KFC shuns 'fried' image with new name&nbsp;– Kentucky Fried Chicken has changed its name to KFC |first=Peter O. |last=Keegan |publisher=Nation's Restaurant News |date=February 21, 1991 |access-date=August 24, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071104124859/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n8_v25/ai_10403447 |archive-date=November 4, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{efn|This change was also applied to other languages, with ''Poulet Frit Kentucky'' becoming ''PFK'' in French Canada.}} The East Coast Hockey League became the [[ECHL]] when it expanded to include cities in the western United States prior to the 2003–2004 season.

Pseudo-acronyms may have advantages in international markets:{{according to whom|date=October 2017}} for example, some national [[Affiliate (commerce)|affiliates]] of [[International Business Machines]] are legally incorporated with "IBM" in their names (for example, IBM Canada) to avoid translating the full name into local languages.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} Likewise, [[UBS AG|UBS]] is the name of the merged [[Union Bank of Switzerland]] and [[Swiss Bank Corporation]],<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2833426/UBS-means-RIP-for-Warburg.html UBS means RIP for Warburg] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180504225347/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2833426/UBS-means-RIP-for-Warburg.html |date=May 4, 2018}}. ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', November 13, 2002</ref> and [[HSBC]] has replaced the long name Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Some companies which have a name giving a clear indication of their place of origin will choose to use acronyms when expanding to foreign markets: for example, [[Toronto-Dominion Bank]] continues to operate under the full name in Canada, but its U.S. subsidiary is known as [[TD Bank, N.A.|TD Bank]], just as [[Royal Bank of Canada]] used its full name in Canada (a [[constitutional monarchy]]), but its U.S. subsidiary is called [[RBC Bank]]. The India-based [[JSW Group]] of companies is another example of the original name (Jindal South West Group) being re-branded into a pseudo-acronym while expanding into other geographical areas in and outside of India.

===Redundant acronyms and RAS syndrome===
{{Main|RAS syndrome}}
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{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2017}}
{{Original research section|date=October 2017}}
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Rebranding can lead to [[RAS syndrome|redundant acronym syndrome]], as when [[Trustee Savings Bank]] became TSB Bank, or when [[Railway Express Agency]] became REA Express. A few [[high-tech]] companies have taken the redundant acronym to the extreme: for example, ISM Information Systems Management Corp. and SHL Systemhouse Ltd. Examples in entertainment include the television shows ''[[CSI: Crime Scene Investigation]]'' and ''[[NCIS (TV series)|Navy: NCIS]]'' ("Navy" was dropped in the second season), where the redundancy was likely designed to educate new viewers as to what the initials stood for. The same reasoning was in evidence when the [[Royal Bank of Canada]]'s Canadian operations rebranded to RBC Royal Bank, or when [[Bank of Montreal]] rebranded their retail banking subsidiary BMO Bank of Montreal.

Another common example is "[[random-access memory|RAM]] memory", which is redundant because "RAM" ("random-access memory") includes the initial of the word "memory". "PIN" stands for "personal identification number", obviating the second word in "[[Personal identification number|PIN]] number"; in this case its retention may be motivated to avoid ambiguity with the homophonous word "pin". Other examples include "[[automated teller machine|ATM]] machine", "[[European American Bank|EAB]] bank", "[[HIV]] virus", Microsoft's [[Windows NT|NT]] Technology, and the formerly redundant "[[SAT]] test", now simply "SAT Reasoning Test"). [[Spike (TV network)|TNN]] (The Nashville/National Network) also renamed itself "The New TNN" for a brief interlude.

===Redefined acronyms===
In some cases, while the initials in an acronym may stay the same, for what those letters stand may change. Examples include the following:

*[[DVD]] was originally an acronym for the unofficial term "digital video disc", but is now stated by the [[DVD Forum]] as standing for "Digital Versatile Disc"{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
*[[Government Accountability Office|GAO]] changed the full form of its name from "General Accounting Office" to "Government Accountability Office"<ref>{{cite web|title=100 Years of GAO|publisher=U.S. Government Accountability Office|url= https://www.gao.gov/about/what-gao-does/hundred-years-of-gao|access-date=August 7, 2022}}</ref>
*[[United States Government Publishing Office|GPO]] changed the full form of its name from "Government Printing Office" to "Government Publishing Office"<ref>{{cite web|title=History|publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office|url= https://www.gpo.gov/who-we-are/our-agency/history|access-date=August 7, 2022}}</ref>
*[[RAID]] was originally an acronym for "Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks" but has since been redefined as "Redundant Array of Independent Disks"<ref>"Originally referred to as Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, the term RAID was first published in the late 1980s by Patterson, Gibson, and Katz of the University of California at Berkeley. (The RAID Advisory Board has since substituted the term Inexpensive with Independent.)" ''Storage Area Network Fundamentals''; Meeta Gupta; Cisco Press; {{ISBN|978-1-58705-065-7}}; Appendix A.</ref>
*The [[Union for International Cancer Control|UICC]] was founded as the "International Union Against Cancer",<ref>{{cite web|title=History of UICC (up to late 1960s)|publisher=UICC|url= https://www.uicc.org/sites/main/files/atoms/files/History-of-UICC-Late-1960s.pdf|access-date=August 7, 2022}}</ref> and its initials originally came from the [[Romance languages|Romance-language]] versions of that name (such as French {{lang|fr|Union Internationale Contre le Cancer}}). The English expansion of its name has since been changed to "Union for International Cancer Control" so that it would also correspond to the UICC acronym.
*[[World Wide Fund for Nature|WWF]] was originally an acronym for "World Wildlife Fund", but now stands for "World Wide Fund for Nature" (although the organization's branches in the U.S. and Canada still use the original name)<ref>{{cite web |title=World Wide Fund for Nature |publisher=World Wildlife Fund |date=2018 |url= https://help.worldwildlife.org/hc/en-us/articles/360008012153-World-Wide-Fund-for-Nature |access-date=August 7, 2022}}</ref>

===Backronyms===
{{Main|Backronym}}
A ''backronym'' (or ''bacronym'') is a [[phrase]] that is constructed "after the fact" from a previously existing word. For example, the novelist and critic [[Anthony Burgess]] once proposed that the word "book" ought to stand for "box of organized knowledge".<ref>''99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939'' (New York: Summit Books, 1984).</ref> A classic real-world example of this is the name of the predecessor to the Apple Macintosh, the [[Apple Lisa]], which was said to refer to "Local Integrated Software Architecture", but was actually named after Steve Jobs's daughter, born in 1978.

Backronyms are oftentimes used for comedic effect{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}. An example of creating a backronym for comedic effect would be in naming a group or organization, the name "A.C.R.O.N.Y.M." stands for (among other things) "a clever regiment of nerdy young men".

===Contrived acronyms===
{{Tone|section|date=January 2024}}
Acronyms are sometimes [[wikt:contrive#Verb|contrived]], that is, deliberately designed to be especially apt for the thing being named (by having a dual meaning or by borrowing the positive connotations of an existing word). Some examples of contrived acronyms are ''[[USA PATRIOT Act|USA PATRIOT]]'', [[Can Spam Act|''CAN SPAM'']], ''[[CAPTCHA]]'' and ''[[AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power|ACT UP]]''.{{Citation needed|date=January 2018}} The clothing company [[French Connection (clothing)|French Connection]] began referring to itself as ''fcuk'', standing for "French Connection United Kingdom". The company then created T-shirts and several advertising campaigns that exploit the acronym's similarity to the taboo word "[[fuck]]". Contrived acronyms find frequent use as names of [[list of fictional espionage organizations|fictional agencies]], with a famous example being frequent [[James Bond]] antagonist organization [[SPECTRE]] (SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion).

The [[United States Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]]'s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ([[DARPA]]) is known for developing contrived acronyms to name projects, including ''RESURRECT'', ''NIRVANA'', and ''DUDE''. In July 2010, ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'' magazine reported that DARPA announced programs to "transform biology from a descriptive to a predictive field of science" named ''BATMAN'' and ''ROBIN'' for "Biochronicity and Temporal Mechanisms Arising in Nature" and "Robustness of Biologically-Inspired Networks",<ref>{{cite magazine |url= https://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/holy-acronym-darpa-batman-robin-to-master-biology-outdo-evolution/ |title=Holy Acronym, Darpa! 'Batman & Robin' to Master Biology, Outdo Evolution |first=Katie |last=Drummond |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |date=July 6, 2010 |access-date=March 5, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130702073147/http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/holy-acronym-darpa-batman-robin-to-master-biology-outdo-evolution/ |archive-date=July 2, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> a reference to the [[Batman]] and [[Robin (comics)|Robin]] comic-book superheroes.

The short-form [[Clinical trial naming conventions|names of clinical trials]] and other scientific studies constitute a large class of acronyms that includes many contrived examples, as well as many with a partial rather than complete correspondence of letters to expansion components. These trials tend to have full names that are accurately descriptive of what the trial is about but are thus also too long to serve practically as [[name]]s within the syntax of a sentence, so a short name is also developed, which can serve as a syntactically useful handle and also provide at least a degree of [[mnemonic]] reminder as to the full name. Examples widely known in [[medicine]] include the ALLHAT trial (Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial) and the CHARM trial (Candesartan in Heart Failure: Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and Morbidity). The fact that [[RAS syndrome]] is often involved, as well as that the letters often do not entirely match, have sometimes been pointed out by annoyed researchers preoccupied by the idea that because the [[Archetype|archetypal]] form of acronyms originated with one-to-one letter matching, there must be some impropriety in their ever deviating from that form. However, the [[wikt:raison d'être|raison d'être]] of clinical trial acronyms, as with [[Gene nomenclature#Symbol and name|gene and protein symbols]], is simply to have a syntactically usable and easily [[Recall (memory)|recalled]] short name to complement the long name that is often syntactically unusable and not [[Memorization|memorized]]. It is useful for the short name to give a reminder of the long name, which supports the reasonable censure of "cutesy" examples that provide little to no hint of it. But beyond that reasonably close correspondence, the short name's chief utility is in functioning cognitively as a [[name]], rather than being a [[wikt:cryptic#Adjective|cryptic]] and forgettable string, albeit faithful to the matching of letters. However, other reasonable critiques have been (1) that it is irresponsible to mention trial acronyms without explaining them at least once by providing the long names somewhere in the document,<ref name="PMID-12767559">{{Citation |last=Cheng |first=Tsung O |year=2003 |title=No more unexplained trial acronyms please. Trial Acronyms: Better Obvious than Obscure (TABOO) |journal=Int J Cardiol |volume=89 |issue=2–3 |page=303 |pmid=12767559 |doi=10.1016/S0167-5273(02)00411-4}}</ref> and (2) that the proliferation of trial acronyms has resulted in ambiguity, such as three different trials all called ASPECT, which is another reason why failing to explain them somewhere in the document is irresponsible in scientific communication.<ref name="PMID-12767559" /> At least one study has evaluated the [[citation impact]] and other traits of acronym-named trials compared with others,<ref name="PMID-16823008">{{cite journal |last1=Stanbrook |first1=M. B. |last2=Austin |first2=P. C. |last3=Redelmeier |first3=D. A. |date=2006 |title=Acronym-named randomized trials in medicine—the ART in medicine study |journal=[[New England Journal of Medicine]] |volume=355 |issue=1 |pages=101–102 |pmid=16823008 |doi=10.1056/NEJMc053420}}</ref> finding both good aspects (mnemonic help, name recall) and potential flaws ([[Connotation|connotatively]] driven [[bias]]).<ref name="PMID-16823008" />

Some acronyms are chosen deliberately to avoid a name considered undesirable: For example, {{lang|de|[[Verliebt in Berlin]]}} (''ViB''), a German [[telenovela]], was first intended to be {{lang|de|Alles nur aus Liebe}} ('All for Love'), but was changed to avoid the resultant acronym ''[[Anus|ANAL]]''. Likewise, the Computer Literacy and Internet Technology qualification is known as ''CLaIT'',<ref name="CIE.org.uk_CLaIT">{{cite web |title=CLAiT–International |work=CIE.org |publisher=[[University of Cambridge]] |url= http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/vocational/clait/overview |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120114062047/http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/vocational/clait/overview |archive-date=January 14, 2012}}</ref> rather than ''[[Clitoris|CLIT]]''. In Canada, the [[Canadian Alliance|Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance (Party)]] was quickly renamed to the "Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance" when its opponents pointed out that its initials spelled CCRAP (pronounced "see [[Feces|crap]]"). Two Irish institutes of technology (Galway and Tralee) chose different acronyms from other institutes when they were upgraded from regional technical colleges. Tralee RTC became the Institute of Technology Tralee (ITT), as opposed to Tralee Institute of Technology ([[Breast|TIT]]). Galway RTC became Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), as opposed to Galway Institute of Technology ([[wikt:git|GIT]]). The charity sports organization [[Leukemia & Lymphoma Society#Fundraising|Team in Training]] is known as "TNT" and not "TIT". [[Technological Institute of Textile & Sciences]], however, is still known as "TITS". [[George Mason University]] was planning to name their law school the "Antonin Scalia School of Law" ([[Asshole|ASSOL]]) in honor of the late [[Antonin Scalia]], only to change it to the "[[Antonin Scalia Law School]]" later.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.npr.org/2016/04/07/473339332/unfortunate-acronym-forces-law-school-name-change |title=Unfortunate Acronym Forces Law School Name Change |work=[[Morning Edition]] |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=April 7, 2016 |access-date=April 4, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181219044112/https://www.npr.org/2016/04/07/473339332/unfortunate-acronym-forces-law-school-name-change |archive-date=December 19, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Macronyms/nested acronyms===
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|{{More citations needed section|date=February 2020}}
{{Original research section|date=February 2020}}}}
A '''macronym''', or '''nested acronym''', is an acronym in which one or more letters stand for acronyms (or abbreviations) themselves. The word "macronym" is a [[portmanteau]] of "[[wikt:macro-|macro-]]" and "acronym".

Some examples of macronyms are:<!-- with citations in each individual article's references -->
* [[XMLHttpRequest|XHR]] stands for "XML HTTP Request", in which "[[XML]]" is "Extensible Markup Language", and [[HTTP]] stands for "HyperText Transfer Protocol"
* [[IBM Power microprocessors|POWER]] stands for "Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC", in which "[[RISC]]" stands for "reduced instruction set computer"
* [[VHDL]] stands for "VHSIC Hardware Description Language", in which "[[VHSIC]]" stands for "Very High Speed Integrated Circuit"
* [[XSD]] stands for "XML Schema Definition", in which "[[XML]]" stands for "Extensible Markup Language"
* [[AOL Instant Messenger|AIM]] stands for "AOL Instant Messenger", in which "[[AOL]]" originally stood for "America Online"
* [[Houston Automatic Spooling Priority|HASP]] stood for "Houston Automatic Spooling Priority", but "[[spooling]]" itself was an acronym: "simultaneous peripheral operations on-line"
* [[VORTAC]] stands for "VOR+TACAN", in which "VOR" is "[[VHF omnidirectional range]]" (where VHF = very high frequency radio) and "TAC" is short for [[TACAN]], which stands for "tactical air navigation"
* [[Global Information Assurance Certification]] has a number of nested acronyms for its certifications, e.g. "GSEC" is an acronym for "GIAC Security Essentials"
* [[REM behaviour disorder|RBD]] stands for "REM Behavior Disorder", in which "[[Rapid eye movement sleep|REM]]" stands for "rapid eye movement"

Some macronyms can be multiply nested: the second-order acronym points to another one further down a hierarchy. In an informal competition run by the magazine ''[[New Scientist]]'', a fully documented specimen was discovered that may be the most deeply nested of all: RARS is the "Regional ATOVS Retransmission Service"; ATOVS is "Advanced TOVS"; TOVS is "[[TIROS]] operational vertical sounder"; and TIROS is "Television infrared observational satellite".<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727681.100-very-deep-multiply-nested-acronyms.html |title=Very deep multiply nested acronyms |work=[[New Scientist]] |date=July 7, 2010 |access-date=September 16, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100914033751/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727681.100-very-deep-multiply-nested-acronyms.html |archive-date=September 14, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> Fully expanded, "RARS" might thus become "Regional Advanced Television Infrared Observational Satellite Operational Vertical Sounder Retransmission Service", which would produce the much more unwieldy acronym "RATIOSOVSRS".

Another example is [[VHDL-VITAL|VITAL]], which expands to "[[VHDL]] Initiative Towards [[ASIC]] Libraries" (a total of 15 words when fully expanded).

However, to say that "RARS" stands directly for that string of words, or can be interchanged with it in [[syntax]] (in the same way that "CHF" can be usefully interchanged with "congestive heart failure"), is a [[Linguistic prescription|prescriptive]] misapprehension rather than a linguistically accurate description; the true nature of such a term is closer to [[#All-caps style|anacronymic]] than to being interchangeable like simpler acronyms are. The latter are fully reducible in an attempt to "spell everything out and avoid all abbreviations", but the former are irreducible in that respect; they can be [[Gloss (annotation)|annotated]] with parenthetical explanations, but they cannot be eliminated from speech or writing in any useful or practical way. Just as the words ''laser'' and ''radar'' function as words in [[syntax]] and [[cognition]] without a need to focus on their acronymic origins, terms such as "RARS" and "[[CHA2DS2–VASc score]]" are irreducible in [[natural language]]; if they are purged, the form of language that is left may conform to some imposed rule, but it cannot be described as remaining natural. Similarly, [[protein]] and [[gene]] nomenclature, [[Gene nomenclature#Symbol and name|which uses symbols extensively]], includes such terms as the name of the [[NACHT domain|NACHT protein domain]], which reflects the symbols of some proteins that contain the domain – NAIP (NLR family apoptosis [[inhibitor protein]]), C2TA (major histocompatibility complex class II transcription activator), HET-E (incompatibility locus protein from ''Podospora anserine''), and TP1 (telomerase-associated protein) – but is not syntactically reducible to them. The name is thus itself more symbol than acronym, and its expansion cannot replace it while preserving its function in natural syntax as a [[name]] within a [[clause]] clearly [[Parsing|parsable]] by human readers or listeners.

====Recursive acronyms====
{{Main|Recursive acronym}}
A special type of macronym, the [[recursive acronym]], has letters whose expansion refers back to the macronym itself. One of the earliest examples appears in ''[[The Hacker's Dictionary]]'' as [[Mung (computer term)|MUNG]], which stands for "MUNG Until No Good".

Some examples of recursive acronyms are:
* [[GNU]] stands for "GNU's Not Unix!"
* [[LAME]] stands for "LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder"
* [[PHP]] stands for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor"
* [[Wine (software)|WINE]] stands for "WINE Is Not an Emulator"
* [[GNU Hurd|HURD]] stands for "HIRD of Unix-replacing daemons", where HIRD itself stands for "HURD of interfaces representing depth" (a "mutually recursive" acronym)