orphan acronym

English

Examples
Coleco laser Qantas SAT

Noun

orphan acronym (plural orphan acronyms)

1. (linguistics) An existing acronym which has been redefined as a nonacronymous name, severing its link to its previous meaning.
   • 2023 June 26, Peter Tymms, “A Reflection on Three Decades of Development”, in Peter Tymms, Tiago Bartholo, Sarah Howie, Elena Kardanova, Mariane Campelo Koslinski, Christine Merrell, Helen Wildy, editors, The First Year at School: An International Perspective (International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development)‎^[1], volume 39, Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, page 3:

     One of the acronyms that we came up with was PIPS, Performance Indicators in Primary Schools, and with such a great name, we had to have a research project. So, the birth of PIPS (1992) was the result of an orphan acronym.

Related terms

• orphan initialism