Acronym

====Japanese====
{{main|Japanese abbreviated and contracted words}}
The [[Japanese language]] makes extensive use of abbreviations, but only some of these are acronyms.

Chinese-based words ([[Sino-Japanese vocabulary]]) uses similar acronym formation to Chinese, like {{nihongo|''Tōdai''|東大}} for {{nihongo|''Tōkyō Daigaku''|東京大学|Tokyo University}}. In some cases alternative pronunciations are used, as in [[Saikyō Line|Saikyō]] for 埼京, from {{nihongo|''[[Saitama, Saitama|Saitama]]'' + ''[[Tokyo|Tōkyō]]''|埼玉＋東京}}, rather than Sai'''tō'''.

Non-Chinese foreign borrowings ([[gairaigo]]) are instead frequently abbreviated as [[clipped compound]]s, rather than acronyms, using several initial sounds. This is visible in [[katakana]] transcriptions of foreign words, but is also found with native words (written in [[hiragana]]). For example, the ''[[Pokémon]]'' media franchise's name originally stood for "pocket monsters" ({{lang|ja-Kana|'''ポケ'''ット·'''モン'''スター}} [po-ke-tto-mon-su-tā] → {{lang|ja-Kana|ポケモン}}), which is still the long-form of the name in Japanese, and "[[wāpuro]]" stands for "[[word processor]]" ({{lang|ja-Kana|'''ワー'''ド·'''プロ'''セッサー}} [wā-do-pu-ro-se-ssā]→ {{lang|ja-Kana|ワープロ}}).