Abbreviations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A concise representation of longer words or phrases intended for ease of use in communication
2. A form of linguistic shorthand that simplifies lengthy terminology into manageable symbols or letters for efficiency
3. Words or phrases shortened to a few letters for quicker reference

Etymology: The plural "abbreviations" simply pluralises "abbreviation", and the root idea is brevity. Latin "brevis" meant "short", and "breviāre" meant "to shorten", so the word's core sense is making something shorter. The Latin "abbreviātiō" added the prefix "ad-", which carries the sense of toward or to, so the whole word means something like "a moving toward shortness". It reached English through Middle French "abreviation" and Middle English "abbreviacioun", and it was recorded in English in the mid-1400s. The Latin root "brevis" is also behind English "brief", "brevity" and "abridge", which is a useful way to see the family. The modern sense of a shortened form of a word or phrase, such as "NATO" or "Dr.", is a natural extension of the older sense of shortening anything at all.

Synonyms: shortenings, contractions, acronyms