abbreviation

See also: Abbreviation

English

Alternative forms

• abbr., abbrv., abbrev.

Etymology

First attested 1400–50. From Middle English abbreviacioun, from Middle French abreviation, from Ecclesiastical Latin abbreviātiō, from Latin ad + breviō (“shorten”), from brevis (“short”). By surface analysis, abbreviate +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˌbɹiː.viˈeɪ.ʃən/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˌbɹi.viˈeɪ.ʃn̩/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

abbreviation (countable and uncountable, plural abbreviations), used with for or of

1. The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
2. (linguistics) A shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase used to represent the whole, using omission of letters, and sometimes substitution of letters, or duplication of initial letters to signify plurality, including signs such as +, =, @. [Late 16^th century.] (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

   Hants is an abbreviation of Hampshire.

3. The process of abbreviating. [Mid 16^th century.]
4. (music) A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
5. (music) One or more dashes through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, demisemiquavers, or hemidemisemiquavers.
6. Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an understood or inferred whole.
   • 1946-1947, President Truman's committee on Civil Rights

     The phrase "civil rights" is an abbreviation for a whole complex of relationships.

7. (biology) Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.
8. (mathematics) Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.

Synonyms

• abbreviature; abridgement; abstract; compend; compression; condensation; contraction; curtailment; epitome; reduction; shortcut; summary

Antonyms

• amplification; dilation; enlargement; expansion; expatiation; extension; production

Hyponyms

• (linguistics): acronym (employing initial letters or syllables); clipping (omitting several letters); initialism (employing initial letters); symbol, sign (employing marks other than letters)

Derived terms

• abbreviationitis
• syllabic abbreviation

 

Translations

shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase

• Afrikaans: afkorting (af), verkorting (af)
• Arabic: اِخْتِصَار m (iḵtiṣār)

  Egyptian Arabic: اختصار m (eḵteṣār)

• Armenian: հապավում (hy) (hapavum)
• Asturian: abreviatura (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: abbreviatura
• Belarusian: абрэвіяту́ра f (abrevijatúra), скарачэ́нне n (skaračénnje), скарачэ́ньне n (skaračénʹnje)
• Bulgarian: абревиату́ра (bg) f (abreviatúra), съкраще́ние (bg) n (sǎkrašténie)
• Catalan: abreviatura (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 縮寫 / 缩写 (zh) (suōxiě), 簡寫 / 简写 (zh) (jiǎnxiě), 略語 / 略语 (zh) (lüèyǔ)

• Cornish: berrheans m
• Crimean Tatar: qısqartma
• Czech: zkratka (cs) f
• Danish: forkortelse (da) c
• Dutch: afkorting (nl) f
• Esperanto: mallongigo (eo)
• Estonian: lühend (et)
• Faroese: stytting f
• Finnish: lyhenne (fi)
• French: abréviation (fr) f
• Galician: abreviatura (gl) f
• Georgian: აბრევიატურა (ka) (abreviaṭura), შემოკლება (šemoḳleba)
• German: Abkürzung (de) f, Kurzbezeichnung (de) f, Kürzel (de) n, Kurzform (de) f, Abbreviation (de), Abbreviatur (de) f
• Greek: συντομογραφία (el) f (syntomografía), βραχυγραφία (el) f (vrachygrafía), σύντμηση (el) f (sýntmisi), συντόμευση (el) f (syntómefsi)

  Ancient: ἀποκοπή (apokopḗ)

• Hebrew: רָאשֵׁי תֵבוֹת / ראשי תיבות (he) m pl (rashéi teivót)
• Hindi: संक्षिप्तीकरण ? (saṅkṣiptīkraṇ)
• Hungarian: rövidítés (hu)
• Icelandic: skammstöfun (is) f
• Ido: abreviuro (io)
• Indonesian: singkatan (id), abreviasi (id)
• Irish: giorrúchán (ga) m, nod m
• Italian: abbreviazione (it) f, abbreviatura (it) f, acronimo (it) m
• Japanese: 略語 (ja) (りゃくご, ryakugo), 略称 (ja) (りゃくしょう, ryakushō), 略 (ja) (りゃく, ryaku), 省略 (ja) (しょうりゃく, shōryaku)
• Kazakh: қысқарған сөз (qysqarğan söz), аббревиатура (abbreviatura)
• Khmer: ពាក្យកាត់ (piək kat)
• Korean: 생략(省略) (ko) (saengnyak), 약자(略字) (ko) (yakja), 약어(略語) (ko) (yageo)
• Latin: abbreviātiō f
• Latvian: abreviatūra f, saīsinājums m
• Lithuanian: santrumpa (lt) f, sutrumpinimas m
• Luxembourgish: Ofkierzung (lb) f
• Macedonian: кратенка f (kratenka), скратеница (mk) f (skratenica)
• Malay: singkatan (ms)
• Maltese: abbrevjazzjoni f
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: аббревиатур (abbreviatur), аббревиаций (abbreviacij), кӱчыкемдымаш (küčykemdymaš)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forkortelse (no) m, forkorting m or f, abbreviatur (no) m, abbreviasjon (no) m, abbreviering m

  Nynorsk: forkorting f, abbreviatur

• Occitan: abreviacion f
• Polish: skrót (pl) m inan, skrótowiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: abreviação (pt) f, abreviatura (pt) f
• Romagnol: abreviaziôn f
• Romanian: abreviere (ro) f, prescurtare (ro) f, abreviație (ro) f
• Russian: сокраще́ние (ru) n (sokraščénije), аббревиату́ра (ru) f (abbreviatúra), аббревиа́ция (ru) f (abbreviácija)
• Scottish Gaelic: giorrachadh (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: скра̑ћеница f, абревија́ција f, кра̀тица f

  Roman: skrȃćenica f, abrevijácija f, kràtica (sh) f

• Slovak: skratka f
• Slovene: kratica (sl) f, okrajšava f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: skrotconka f, krotceńka f

  Upper Sorbian: skrótšenka f

• Spanish: abreviación (es) f
• Swahili: kifupisho
• Swedish: förkortning (sv) c
• Tagalog: pagdadaglat
• Telugu: సంక్షేపం (saṅkṣēpaṁ)
• Thai: ตัวย่อ (th) (dtuua-yɔ̂ɔ), คำย่อ (kam-yɔ̂ɔ), อักษรย่อ (th) (àk-sɔ̌ɔn-yɔ̂ɔ)
• Turkish: kısaltma (tr)
• Udmurt: вакчиятон (vakćijaton)
• Ukrainian: абревіату́ра (uk) f (abreviatúra), скоро́чення (uk) n (skoróčennja)
• Urdu: مُخَفَّف (muxaffaf)
• Vietnamese: viết tắt (vi)
• Volapük: brefod (vo)
• Welsh: byrfodd (cy) m
• West Frisian: ôfkoarting c

abridged version of a document

• Afrikaans: verkorting (af)
• Greek: σύνοψη (el) f (sýnopsi)
• Italian: riassunto (it) m
• Korean: 요약본(要約本) (yoyakbon)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oppsummering m, sammendrag (no) n

• Scottish Gaelic: giorrachadh (gd) m
• Vietnamese: bài tóm tắt

act or result of shortening or reducing

• Afrikaans: verkorting (af), afkorting (af)
• Armenian: հապավում (hy) (hapavum), կրճատում (hy) (krčatum), համառոտում (hy) (hamaṙotum)
• Bulgarian: съкращаване (bg) n (sǎkraštavane), скъсяване (bg) n (skǎsjavane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 縮寫 / 缩写 (zh) (suōxiě)

• Czech: zkrácení n
• Danish: forkortelse (da) c
• Dutch: afkorting (nl) f, verkorting (nl) f
• Finnish: lyhentäminen (fi), lyhennös, lyhennelmä (fi), lyhennys (fi)
• German: Abkürzung (de) f, Kürzen n
• Greek: σύντμηση (el) f (sýntmisi)
• Icelandic: stytting (is) f
• Ido: abrevio (io)
• Indonesian: penyingkatan (id), abreviasi (id)
• Irish: giorrú m
• Italian: abbreviazione (it) f
• Japanese: 省略 (ja) (しょうりゃく, shōryaku), 短縮 (ja) (たんしゅく, tanshuku), 略 (ja) (りゃく, ryaku)
• Korean: 축약(縮約) (ko) (chugyak)
• Latin: abbreviātiō f
• Malay: penyingkatan
• Maltese: abbrevjazzjoni f
• Maori: poronga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forkortelse (no) m, forkorting m or f

  Nynorsk: forkorting f,

• Polish: skrócenie (pl) n
• Portuguese: abreviatura (pt) f, abreviação (pt) f
• Romanian: abreviere (ro) f
• Russian: сокраще́ние (ru) n (sokraščénije), уреза́ние (ru) n (urezánije)
• Scottish Gaelic: giorrachadh (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: абревија́ција f, кра̀тица f

  Roman: abrevijácija f, kràtica (sh) f

• Spanish: abreviación (es) f
• Swedish: förkortning (sv) c, förkortande (sv) n (the act of...)
• Vietnamese: (sự) tóm tắt, sự rút ngắn
• Volapük: brefükam (vo) (action)

music: a notation used in music score to denote a direction

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: abbreviatur (no) m

music: one or more dashes through the stem of a note

• Finnish: lyhennysmerkki
• Icelandic: stytting (is) f
• Italian: abbreviazione (it) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: abbreviatur (no) m

• Polish: abrewiatura (pl) f

mathematics: reduction to lower terms

• Bulgarian: съкращаване (bg) n (sǎkraštavane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 約分 / 约分 (zh) (yuēfēn)

• Czech: krácení n
• Japanese: 約分 (ja) (やくぶん, yakubun)
• Korean: 약분(約分) (ko) (yakbun)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: please add this translation if you can

• Polish: redukcja (pl) f, skracanie (pl) n
• Swedish: förkortning (sv) c
• Vietnamese: (sự) ước lược, sự rút gọn

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Burmese: ^{(please verify)} ချုံ့ခြင်း (hkyum.hkrang:)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} संक्षिप्तीकरण ? (saṅkṣiptīkraṇ)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} singkatan (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} abbreviation (ia) (3)
• Manx: ^{(please verify)} aagherrid m
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} مخفف (fa)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} skratka f (2, 3)
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} kifupi class 7/8
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} talfyriad (cy) m

Further reading

• Abbreviation in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• “abbreviation”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “abbreviation”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "abbreviation" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.