How to abbreviate words?

What are the requirements for abbreviations?

Abbreviations should be clear to the reader. A large number of uncommon abbreviations makes it difficult to read the text. When a word is truncated, the remaining part should allow you to easily and accurately restore the full word, for example: philosophic, philosophic, not Phil.

Abbreviations that coincide in spelling with others are undesirable. Such abbreviations are allowed only if the context suggests exactly which word or phrase is abbreviated.

Abbreviations must be uniform. The principle of uniformity is maintained when all words of the same type are reduced (or not reduced). The abbreviation must be the same.

Where can I find the abbreviation rules?

Excerpts from "GOST R 7.0.12-2011 SIBID. Bibliographic record. Abbreviation of words and phrases. General requirements and rules (word abbreviation rules and a list of the most common abbreviations) in the "Official Documents" section on our portal.

The rules for shortening words are given in the book by A. E. Milchin and L. K. Cheltsova "Reference book of the publisher and author" (2nd ed., M., 2003).

Many commonly used abbreviations can be found here.:

N. N. Novichkov. Dictionary of modern Russian abbreviations and abbreviations. Paris-Moscow, 1995;


Russian spelling dictionary / Ed. V. V. Lopatina, O. E. Ivanova. 4th ed., M., 2012;

Here is a list of some common abbreviations:

adm.-terr. administrative-territorial

acad. academician, academy

a/o joint-stock company, autonomous district, autonomous region

b byte

b-ka library

in. century, centuries century

wkz. railway station

in evening department

east-european Eastern European

G. year; mountain

gg. years; the mountains

G gram

G. and mr mister

gg. and sir gentlemen

G. and Ms. mistress

G. and mountains city

gg. cities

state. state

state-in state

gr. and gr-ka citizen

gr. and grn citizen

gr-not citizens

dep. department; deputy

diss. thesis

before. and before Holiday House

before day department

USD valley

Doll. dollar

daily daily

and. and female feminine

and. d. and railway Railway

railroad and railway railway

app. and h. west

Western European Western European

zarub. foreign

h. to. and s/c a prisoner

s/o extramural

publishing house publishing house

in. and foreign foreign

in-t and inst. institute

and. about. acting; First and middle name

etc. and the like, and the like

cand. and to. candidate

kg kilogram

kg. skittle

m. and husband. male

m meter

MB and MB megabyte

mb millibar

min. minister

min and min. ministry

min. and m. minute (The spelling of this abbreviation with a dot is recorded in the Russian Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences; according to GOST, this abbreviation should be written without a dot. - Note ed.)

min. and min. minimum

mm millimeter

Moscow Moscow

weeks a week

P. paragraph, paragraph

pp. paragraphs, paragraphs

per. and P. lane

mailbox mailbox

ave., etc. and Ave avenue

R. and rub. ruble

With. and sec. second

With. and page page

cm centimeter

cm. look

SPb. St. Petersburg

t. volume, tt. volumes

t. and tel. telephone

t. and comrade comrade

t. and thousand one thousand

t/c TV channel

st. the outside

FULL NAME. and f. and. about. Full Name

h. hour (The spelling of this abbreviation with a dot is recorded in the Russian Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences; according to GOST, this abbreviation should be written without a dot. - Note ed.)

And the abbreviation (Italian abbreviatura, from Latin brevis - short) - in old manuscripts and books: an abbreviated spelling of a word or group of words. In modern editions, an abbreviation is any abbreviated word or phrase. The abbreviation is usually (but not always!) written in capital letters. Abbreviations read by sounds (and not by letter names) and denoting common nouns are written in lowercase letters (for example, university, rono, bunker).

What are the types of abbreviations

initial abbreviation. A word formed from the names of initial letters or from the initial sounds of words included in the original phrase. (For example, ACS - automated control system, ODE - ordinary differential equations, DDL - data description language).

• • Abbreviationalphabetic. An abbreviation made up of the alphabetic names of the initial letters of the words that form the original phrase. RF (er-ef) (Russian Federation). KGB (ka-ge-be) (State Security Committee), TFKP (te-ef-ka-pe) (theory of functions of a complex variable).

• • The abbreviation is alphanumeric. An abbreviation formed partly from the names of the initial letters, partly from the initial sounds of the words of the original phrase. TsDSA (tse-de-sa) (Central House of the Soviet Army).

• Abbreviation for sound (acronym). An abbreviation formed from the initial letters of the words in the original phrase. HPP (hydroelectric power station). University (higher educational institution). TASS (Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union). Unlike the letter abbreviation, it is pronounced as a single word (“GUM” as gum, not “ge-u-um”), not letter by letter.

Recursive abbreviation. Abbreviation, decoding, which includes itself. For example, GNU (GNU‘s Not Unix), ALT (ALT Linux Team), PHP (PHP Hypertext Preprocessor), ATTA (ATTA Creative Technology Agency).

Compound words. A word formed from the initial parts of two or more words (food store, collective farm, etc.) or representing the addition of the beginning of one word with another word of a phrase (maternity hospital, drama circle, television network, etc.).

Graphic abbreviation (because - since).

Mixed cut (RosNII - Russian Research Institute).

Abbreviations, or abbreviations, have long been used in writing by all peoples with a written language. The ancient Romans tried to achieve this with their Tyronian marks; in recent times shorthand has been invented for the same purpose.

The main task of abbreviations is the economy of speech and written text. When pronouncing, the abbreviation is about five times shorter in sounding time than the corresponding concept, and when writing, the savings are even more noticeable.

The most complete list of abbreviations (abbreviations) from A to Z

For a quick search, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F

BUT

ABBM - high power battery

ABZ - asphalt concrete plant

ABS - anti-blocking system; auto-lock system; automated banking system

AVN - Academy of Military Sciences

AGZS - autogas filling station

ADSL - transliteration from English. abbr. ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (Asymmetric DSL) - asymmetric digital subscriber line

AZLK - Automobile Plant named after. Lenin Komsomol

gas station - petrol station

AzSSR - Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic

AZU - subscriber protective device; automatic locking device; automatic charger; automatic protective device; analog storage device; associative storage device

AIS OSAGO - automated information system of compulsory motor third party liability insurance

AIS PFR - automated information system of the Pension Fund of Russia

AIF - joint stock investment fund

AIF - "Arguments and Facts"

AK - 7.62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle of the 1947 model of the year (AK-47); aviation corps; automobile crane; joint-stock company; aortic valve (med.)

AK-74 - 5.45 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974

Battery - rechargeable battery; active client base; Joint Stock Commercial Bank

AKM - 7.62-mm Kalashnikov assault rifle, model 1959, modernized; alveolar soft tissue sarcoma (med.); anti-crisis measures

AKP - automatic transmission (shift) gears; anti-crisis plan

automatic transmission - automatic transmission

ALROSA - Almazy Rossii - Sakha (name of the joint-stock company)

AMiK - Alexander Maslyakov and company

AMN - Academy of Medical Sciences

AMS - automatic interplanetary station

AN - Real Estate Agency; Academy of Sciences

NSA - National Security Agency

AO - autonomous region; aggregate compartment; joint-stock company; alcohol intoxication; Amur region; analytical review; Archaeological discoveries (edition)

Caller ID - automatic caller ID; Academy of Social Sciences (under the Central Committee of the CPSU); caller ID; number identification equipment

AIC - agro-industrial complex

ARM - automated workplace

ASKI - transliteration from English. abbr. ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange (American standard encoding table for printable characters and some special codes)

ACS - automated control system; automated accounting system

ATO - anti-terrorist operation

ATS - automatic telephone exchange; Arbitration Court of Arbitration

AKHO - administrative and economic department

AC - Accreditation Center

NPP - nuclear power plant

AYA - PO box; PO box

Hello friends!

Today I sat down at my PC, went to ICQ, and there a new message flashes in the LAN, my friend sent me a JPG. But I don’t need a photo, I write to him: DOCX are coming! He does not want to, he says that JPEG is better, well, or at least PNG. And I told him: only in the Word, IMHO! Ask the site admin. He asked. The administrator answered him: “PPKS. MB RAR or ZIP "- well, what the hell?! I studied at TGNGU, I don’t need to sell here!

I hope I will not need to decipher the essence of this correspondence to you. Or is it still necessary? And how are you with the knowledge of abbreviations, eh? Do you think they need to know or not?

I think you have already guessed what the conversation will be about today: what are abbreviations and how to use them correctly. As well as a list of examples, both widely used and rarer. And my assistant, expert, linguist and specialist in different languages ​​will help us with this.

We owe the appearance of this beautiful word to the language of science - Latin. It was from there that the word ‘brevis’ – “short” – migrated to Italian. Where it has undergone a change, it has grown the prefix 'ab-', lost the small ending '-s' and acquired the long '-atura'. And in this form it received a very specific meaning: "reduction in writing and printing." And since writing and printing create a flow of information, it is clear that we are talking about words.

Abbreviation History

The main meaning of the abbreviation is the transfer of more information with less means and in a shorter time. In ancient times, when books were written by hand, and it was hard work, abbreviated spelling of frequently used words was a significant simplification of the work. In English, such a truncated spelling of the word denoting Christmas - Xmas, which has become an abbreviated version of the full word Christmas, is still very popular.

Also, word abbreviations were often used by craftsmen and artisans in those days when professional knowledge was inherited, to encrypt secrets in order to protect them from competitors.

The next period when abbreviations were relevant and useful was their use for the telegraph. It was the fastest way to transmit written messages from the beginning of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, and in the USSR until the 1980s. Even in private telegraphic messages of ordinary people, abbreviations were used, meaning punctuation marks - TCHK (period), ZPT (comma) and others, since punctuation marks were used for special encoding, but only letters and numbers should have been present in messages.

In more professional areas, where messages had to be sent frequently and regularly, such as weather reports for pilots of departing passenger planes, abbreviations of commonly used terms were widely used.

English telegraphic abbreviations became the basis for the creation of the American Standard Code Table (ASCII Symbols), with the help of which computers recognize printed characters, both widely used and rare.

As you can see, this is a fairly widely used and convenient form of abbreviation. It is clear that its use is still present in our lives at all levels, from business language to everyday shortening of too long words.

Abbreviation of words in everyday life

For a long time in the Russian language, according to the rule, only nouns were abbreviated. However, the era of the Internet has arrived. Chopped words from written English slang quickly burst into our language, our programmers and advanced users began to urgently invent their own - and now more or less widely used set expressions and phrases are being abbreviated.

How are abbreviations made?

We meet with a letter abbreviation quite often in business documentation and when mentioning various organizations. Behind it, as a rule, is hidden the name of an institution, organization or position consisting of several words.

So many of them have already been invented that now those who want to create a new name must first check the list of existing abbreviations so as not to repeat themselves. Although not in all cases it is possible to come up with something original, as a result, coincidences are obtained: the GPU - the State Legal Department of the President of the Russian Federation and the GPU - a state environmental institution.

The shorter the abbreviation, the more likely the match. Therefore, along with the laconic and well-known Moscow State University (Moscow State University), you can also meet such a monster: GNUVNIVIPFiT - the State Scientific Institution of the All-Russian Research Veterinary Institute of Pathology, Pharmacology and Therapy.

Well, how did you get it right the first time?

I think almost everyone asks the question: why invent this. The answer is simple: the abbreviations of institutions are often artistically inscribed in the logos of these same institutions. Therefore, another role of the letter abbreviation is graphic.

How are words shortened?

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So, what are the ways to reduce words? Some people believe that only in initial letters. However, this is just one way to create a shortened and simplified name. It's called an abbreviation. This is the most widely used way of creating official abbreviations for organizations. FAS, FSIN, traffic police, GBOU - some abbreviations are constantly heard, some have to puzzle over.

We will talk about transcripts later, but for now let's move on to the second method: when words are reduced not to the first letter, but to its semantic part. This is how the system administrator turns into a system administrator, and the State Department into the State Department. The same type of abbreviation can be attributed to the method of abbreviating only the first word, which is attached to the full second word: commanders, head of department - this is easier to understand, isn't it?

The method of shortening words according to separate, far from always the main parts of words, was widely practiced in the newly created country of workers and peasants - the new government strove for innovation in everything. This often gave rise to quite funny abbreviations. You can read more about the ebullient activity of the unsinkable bureaucrats of that time in the imperishable works of I. Ilf and E. Petrov, and for example, I will give you such a masterpiece that came out from the pen of the officials of the young people's republic: Vserabis (All-Union Trade Union of Art Workers).

Time to train your brain! Decipher the following abbreviation from the same era: Zamkompomorde.

But the ideas for creating abbreviations did not end there. Restless abbreviators tried to confuse normal people and created ... mixed abbreviations, when some words are reduced to the first letter, and one word is not, for example: GlavAPU, Gulag, KamAZ.

Do you think that's all now? Ha, how! At the beginning of the twentieth century, abbreviations were widespread, which took the beginning from one word, and the end from the second. Most of these abbreviations are practically obsolete, but some you have no doubt met and used without even realizing that this is an abbreviation. Take, for example, the well-known "moped". It turns out that the forming words “MOTO” and “velosiPED” were cunningly hidden in this word. That is a bicycle equipped with a motor.

Another abbreviation method is purely graphic, because it is used only in writing: when the word is abbreviated to the initial and last letters: island (island), ave (avenue). This kind of abbreviation is often used by students when taking lecture notes. However, students do this in a way that is understandable only to them, and sometimes even incomprehensible. But the generally accepted abbreviations are clear to anyone who bothers to remember them or look into the dictionary.

In the same way, but only to the first letters of the keywords, they abbreviate when writing units of measures, weights, information, banknotes. Everyone knows that kg means “kilogram”, km means kilometer, and Mb means “megabyte”. Some abbreviations are so familiar that they have already begun to be pronounced in the same abbreviated form - for example, “give me a couple of kegs of potatoes” instead of “a couple of kilograms”. Unlike abbreviations, most of these accepted international designations are written with a small letter.

As everyone who deals with a computer knows, in addition to written abbreviations, there are also colloquial ones in which gigabytes become "gigabytes".

As for modern ways of creating new abbreviations, strict rules apply only to the official formation of abbreviations from initial letters, because in this way names are officially encrypted at the state level. Then they are entered into a single register, fixed and issued circulars for different organizations - and other officials should know what is hidden behind this or that reduction.

So, summing up: there are several ways to form abbreviations:

• by first letters (more often for phrases of three or more words);
• on the basis of words (two, very rarely - three);
• mixed, combining both roots or separate parts of words, and letters;
• connected from the initial and final parts of words.

Pronunciation, stress and spelling

Okay, now you think you know everything, and you can shorten any tricky name. And nothing like that. So there would be a lot of confusion, because many abbreviations of letters seem to be the same, although they are radically different in meaning.

Would you like to get into the main Moscow store (also GUM) instead of the building of the humanities faculties of Moscow University (GUM)? And it is still quite real. The only difference is that the store got its name back in 1921 and has long been officially lost, since now it is no longer an abbreviation, but a brand preserved in memory of a pre-existing abbreviation (State Department Store). But the university building received the official and current abbreviation of its name in 2005.

Although bureaucratic minds sometimes give rise to such monstrous abbreviations as, for example, GUZMOMOTSPBSPIDIZ (State Health Institution of the Moscow Region, Moscow Regional Center for the Prevention and Control of AIDS and Infectious Diseases), they are not very memorable. And they are certainly not used in conversation, in contrast to the same MKAD (Moscow Ring Road), which Muscovites actively use in everyday communication. In addition, they still have to write! And when it comes to practice, a number of questions arise:

• How to pronounce?
• Where to put emphasis?
• Can it be declined according to the rules of the Russian language?
• How are abbreviations spelled correctly?
• Why are some abbreviations written separately?

Let's look into this.

How to pronounce letter abbreviation

Of course, there are rules that describe how to pronounce these human-made abbreviations correctly or incorrectly. However, to be honest, all the rules come from the euphony and naturalness of the sound of a letter combination or word for the native language, in this case Russian. Therefore, in each rule there will be forms that are pronounced according to the rules, but there will also be exceptions. But you need to know the rules - at least in order not to get confused in a new and unfamiliar letter abbreviation.

1. If the abbreviation consists of several consonants, then it is simple, it is pronounced according to how these letters are called in the alphabet: GDP - ve-we-pe, VTsSPS - ve-tse-es-pe-es.
2. The presence of a vowel at the beginning or end of the abbreviation does not change the situation: most often such abbreviations are pronounced according to the alphabetic name of the letters: EU (e-es), GMO - (ge-em-o). Exceptions to this rule: the media and SKA. Also, the well-known abbreviation of the name of the country - the USA - is not pronounced according to the rules: it is pronounced either as a syllable -usa or as se-she-a, which, as you understand, does not convey the alphabetic name of these letters of the Russian language.
3. The presence of one or more vowels in a three-letter or more abbreviation allows you to pronounce it like a regular word: SES, MFA, FIFA, UN.

Emphasis on abbreviations

Well, if this is a simple abbreviation with one vowel, the stress will automatically fall on it. But in pronunciation, vowels creep in even in abbreviations consisting only of consonants. Otherwise, they would not have spoken. And if vowels appear, then the stress should be placed somewhere. And where to put it, pronouncing such a complex abbreviation as VLKSM?

According to the rules, the stress in the abbreviation formed from the reduction of Russian words is placed on the last syllable. With foreign abbreviations that are not translated into Russian, but simply the literal meaning is preserved, it is more difficult: how to pronounce NATO, NASA and the like correctly, you need to look in the dictionary.

Gender and declension

A feature of the Russian language is the addition of suffixes to convey belonging to the masculine, feminine or neuter gender, as well as to create a case form - declension. Does this rule apply to abbreviations? In the event that letter abbreviations end in a vowel, they remain unchanged, because even if the abbreviation sounds like a word, you cannot change the last letter without losing the meaning.

Attention! Under no circumstances should one say: “the leadership of FIFA” or “UNESCO has made a decision”.

Another thing is when there is one or more consonants at the end: then the form for inflection is attached to the abbreviation without losing the semantic parts. Therefore, such constructions as “the bride and groom left the registry office” are completely allowed.

Difficulty reading abbreviations

A person can, unwittingly, remember how this or that abbreviation is pronounced, just periodically hearing its mention in the news, advertising, films. But with speech synthesizers that convert texts into a sound range and vice versa, the situation is more complicated: the developers of such programs for the Russian language have yet to successfully teach them to recognize and correctly read abbreviations of varying degrees of complexity.

Perhaps the problem will be solved by adding a dictionary of abbreviations to the database - then the program, having found a set of capital letters in the text, will simply substitute how the abbreviation stands for. As for new and unfamiliar abbreviations, then if you don’t want to get into a mess, it’s better to familiarize yourself with the rules of pronunciation.

How to spell the abbreviation correctly

Even if you have learned how to correctly use some difficult-to-pronounce abbreviations in speech, questions can still arise when you have to write them. And since most often you have to write them in business documents, making mistakes is not a very good decision.

So, here are some basic rules for writing.

• Abbreviations formed from the first letters are capitalized if it is an abbreviation of its own name, for example: MGU (Moscow State University).
• Letter abbreviations are written with a small letter if the abbreviation hides not its own name, but a generalized one. But there are few of them - and as a rule, these are the abbreviations that gradually became generalized from their own names, which means they began to be written in small letters: university (higher educational institution), homeless (without a fixed place of residence).
• If the abbreviation is based on parts of the word that are the name, it is capitalized only at the beginning, as a normal proper name, for example, Ministry of Health (Ministry of Health). If the abbreviation is not a personal name, then it is written with a small letter, for example, department head (head of department).
• The abbreviation of the mixed type is difficult to write and rather quickly the spelling features are forgotten, over time, such an abbreviation is most often written in full capital letters, as, for example, KamAZ is no longer considered a mistake to write KAMAZ.

Important! Do not put a full stop after abbreviations!

These are general rules, however, in order not to make mistakes and write the abbreviation correctly, it is best to use a dictionary or the Internet. Widely used abbreviations will easily tell you, but it is best to look for rare forms on the official websites of the relevant institutions.

Why are some written together and some separately?

Such a question arises at the sight of abbreviations like: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. The answer is simple: like individual words, different abbreviations are written separately, since in full form they form a phrase from two different encrypted formations: Ministry of Foreign Affairs (institution) of the Russian Federation (state). Each of the parts of such an abbreviated phrase can be used separately: for example, the Foreign Ministry is often mentioned in the news, without specifying each time that it is a domestic ministry. And the abbreviation of the state's official name can be used with any other ministry.

The use of abbreviations in highly specialized areas

In medicine

In addition to business language, abbreviations are widely used in areas where various terms are constantly used. Speaking of this, one cannot ignore the use of abbreviations in medicine, since in terms of the number of terms the science of the human body and its treatment easily competes with jurisprudence.

Some abbreviations are widely known to both doctors and patients, such as the gastrointestinal tract (gastrointestinal tract), SARS (acute respiratory viral infection) or AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), others are known only to specialists, and even after deciphering individual abbreviations doctors climb into thick reference books.

These abbreviations are used in the management of medical records - cards, sick leaves, prescriptions, extracts - along with Latin terms. Even if we do not take into account the terrible medical handwriting, then even without this, not everyone can decipher the often mysterious letters. And since these documents are not about something extraneous, but about health - either ours or our loved ones - sometimes we try to figure out how serious the diagnosis is recorded there.

It used to be more difficult - interested parties had to seek clarification from a doctor they knew, if there was one.

Now we have available at any time and truly inexhaustible sources on the Internet.

If you don’t find what you need, and it doesn’t matter - in addition to ready-made articles, there are also thematic forums where everyone can share the necessary information. True, it is far from a fact that a more or less knowledgeable specialist will give you advice, but at least an idea in which direction to look for can always be obtained there.

For air transportation

According to the principle of abbreviations, special ICAO and IATA airport coding forms have been created, which are used by all interested parties, from air carriers to mechanics and ticket sales assistants.

The unique code assigned to each airport instantly communicates the necessary information without further ado: in which country and in which city the desired place is located.

Sometimes they are called abbreviations for airports, but strictly speaking, they are not, since they often have a very remote resemblance to the name of both the airport itself and the city in which it is located. Why is this happening? Because the code must be unique and not match any other. In addition, cities can change names, but codes change much more slowly. For example, according to the international IATA system, the code of St. Petersburg is still consonant with the name of this city in Soviet times, Leningrad - LED.

The ICAO structure is much more universal: according to these codes, the first letter indicates the continent or part of it, the second corresponds to the country, the third and fourth are intended to designate the airport. For large countries, the second part of the code consists of three digits.

In military affairs

The military sphere is also replete with various abbreviations of long and confusing terms, since accuracy and brevity in this area are not a whim, but a necessity - often the score goes not even for minutes, but for fractions of seconds.

Some military abbreviations are known not only by former and current military or conscripts, but also by absolutely civilian, peaceful people who are far from this sphere. For example, most people will not be surprised, but will immediately understand what is at stake when they hear: “Look, an armored personnel carrier is driving.” And much less often, instead of this abbreviated name, you will hear its decoding - an armored personnel carrier.

It is clear that each type of troops has its own, specific reductions in weapons and service equipment. In addition, since the army does not exist in its own, separate world, topographic designations or abbreviations are widely used in the army lexicon, meaning defense enterprises. The fate of the entire military campaign may depend on the ability to use them, along with the skills of orienting on the map and on the ground. Until now, his own name, which has already become a household name, is still in use - Ivan Susanin: a patriot who led the enemy army into the deaf swamps.

In the technical documentation

Well, how to do without abbreviations in technology - from specialized to household? Of course, we sometimes come across technical abbreviations more often than we would like. Any technical data sheet, even for such an inexpensive product as radio headphones, will necessarily include a couple of ingenious abbreviations that are understandable to a specialist, but by no means to an ordinary user. And the abbreviations in the passports of prefabricated and complex products can completely drive an inexperienced beginner to despair.

But it is never too late to learn, and if you approach the issue seriously and thoughtfully, soon you can begin to understand areas that you could not even think about before.

Abbreviations in English, from English and other languages

Separately, I would like to consider the abbreviations that came to us from English as the language of international communication. A modern specialist cannot be considered as such if he does not speak a foreign language, most often English, since English terminology penetrates us in all areas. If you want to learn English, and even on your own at home, then read here.

It is clear that all the above areas of application of abbreviations are filled with English abbreviations in the same way, each of them is a separate topic for a new large article.

Abbreviations in computer and internet technology

However, I want to pay a little more attention to the field of computer technology - although Russia is now rapidly developing this area, in the United States development began and moved much further. In fact, it was there that the main standards of modern IT technologies were set. It is clear that they are inextricably linked with the English language.

Since we are also related to this area, let's take a closer look at what and when we are dealing with.

And it all starts with the well-known beginning of the electronic address of almost all sites: www is an abbreviation for the expression World Wide Web ().

And if you pay attention to the final letters in the email address of any site, there is also a certain encoding hidden there, often an abbreviation denoting the country.

Cleverly, this is called a "national domain", which is dedicated to a specific country. You have probably come across sites with the ending us or ru. The first domain name refers to sites located in the United States, and the second, I think, does not need to be explained. And if you don’t know what a domain is, but really want to, read.

Just like the code for airports, it must be unique and not the same as existing ones. Therefore, the winners are the countries that received it earlier - such an abbreviation will be closer to the name of their country. For example, little Laos fussed before the former republics of the USSR, which is why it has the domain name la, while for Latvia there is only a very remotely reminiscent name of their country lv, because lt was received by neighboring Lithuania.

In addition to national domain names, there are also universal ones, such as com and net. But I won't revisit here which sites use them.

And now you can test yourself for understanding the story that I told you at the very beginning.

Abbreviations are also extensions that are at the end of the name of a computer file after a dot and denote different types of files. We will consider the most common types of extensions that an Internet user usually deals with:

• for text documents and tables, the most used extensions are doc (after the release of Windows 7, the docx extension came into play), txt, xls;
• drawings, photos and moving pictures from several consecutive images are denoted by the extensions jpg (jpeg), bmp, tif, gif;
• sound files are hidden behind mp3, mpeg, wav extensions;
• videos can most often be found with the extension avi, mp4, flv, mov, mpg;
• zip, rar, 7z extensions are used for archiving;
• programs or applications that need to be installed in order to gain access to its capabilities (as well as viruses that inexperienced users inadvertently put on their computers) are most often hidden behind the .exe extension;
• the html extension is intended for the Internet and can only be opened using Internet browsers;
• the ppt (pptx) extension is intended for presentations created using Microsoft PowerPoint and opened for editing, but the file with the pps (ppsx) extension is intended only for viewing the finished presentation;
• a file with the pdf extension is universal, as it is suitable for different operating systems, texts with pictures, scans of various instructions and books are often “sewn up” in it.

Of course, these are not all file formats, but only the most unified in the computer field. Often, for various needs, software developers use their own, unique extensions that are used only in a specific program and nowhere else.

Important! The extension is only an indicator of what kind of file is hidden behind it. Replacing the extension letters manually will not turn text into video and video into audio, such interference will only make the file unreadable, which means you will ruin it.

The origin of the abbreviation names for these extensions is unknown to most users, just as the vast majority of people do not know why a light bulb works. Yes, this is not necessary, it is enough just to know what they mean and what they are used for. Moreover, progress continues. For example, with the spread of tablets and androids, new file formats have appeared that are compatible with these technical devices.

English abbreviations used on the Internet for communication

But there is probably no such area where English would be so tightly integrated into our daily life as in social networks. And abbreviations are no exception, because Americans are fans of saving time.

There was no Internet yet, and they had already reduced the word Okey to two letters - ok, and the name of one of their favorite holidays, Christmas, to a shortened version - Xmas. So you can imagine how famously they abbreviate any more or less regularly used phrases in written communication. Among them you can find OMG, LOL and WTF - I think for most of my readers these abbreviations do not need to be deciphered.

However, this is not all. If, when you meet such a masterpiece of bureaucratic thought as GNUVNIVIPFiT (State Scientific Institution All-Russian Research Veterinary Institute of Pathology, Pharmacology and Therapy), you think that only the mind of a bureaucrat can generate such things, then you are mistaken. Communicating with a foreigner on the network, you may well come across such a casual question: AWGTHTGTTA? Don't rack your brains, you were just asked "Are We Going To Have To Go Through This Again?"

Interesting: do you know that in addition to the abbreviation IMHO (IMHO - in my humble opinion), which has firmly entered the Russian-language network slang, there are two more options in English: IMO (in my opinion) and IMSHO (in my not so humble opinion), which express varying degrees of confidence in their own opinions.

AFAIK	As Far As I Know
ADN	Any Day Now
ASAP	As Soon As Possible
B	Be
BRB	Be Right Back
btw	By The Way
CU or CUL or CUL8R	See You, See You Later
CYO	see you online
DIIK	Damned If I Know
FAQ	Frequently Asked Questions
FWIW	For What It's Worth
FYI	For Your Information
GD&R	Grinning, ducking & running (usually left at the end of a digging message)
GIWIST	Gee I Wish I'd Said That
IAC	In Any Case (also IAE - In Any Event)
IANAL	I Am Not A Lawyer
IC	I See
IOW	In Other Words
IR	In Real Life
IYO	In Your Opinion
I3D	In 3D
JIC	Just In Case
JSNM	Just Stark Naked Magic
FITB	Fill In The Blank…
KOW	Knock On Wood
lol	Laughing Out Loud
L8R	Later
LAB&TYD	Life's A Bitch & Then You Die
Ob.	obligatory
OIC	Oh, I See
OTOH	On The Other Hand
PMJI or PMFJI	Pardon me for jumping in
pov	point of view
PPN	programmer project number
RIP	Rest In Peace
ROFL	Rolling On Floor Laughing
ROTFL	Rolling On The Floor Laughing
RSN	Real Soon Now
RTFM	Read The Fine Manual
SNAFU	Situation Normal, All Fucked Up
SYSOP	System Operator
TANJ	There Ain't No Justice
TANSTAAFL	There Ain't No Such Thing as A Free Lunch
TBD	To Be Determined
TIA	Thanks In Advance
TPTB	The Powers That Be
TTBOMK	To The Best Of My Knowledge
TTYL	Talk To You Later
YA…	Yet another…. (as in YAA - yet another acronym)
U	you
VIP	Very Important Person
W8	Wait
10X	thanks

Correct and incorrect foreign abbreviations

Often foreign, but widely used abbreviations are also used in the Russian-speaking environment. Sometimes such names are translated, for example, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) in the original is called Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe - (OSCE). The same applies to the USA (United States of America), which in English is called USA (United States of America).

However, this principle is not always preserved when mastering abbreviations. So the NATO alliance remained unchanged - this abbreviation was transferred to the Cyrillic alphabet without changes from the Latin: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Perhaps because of the already existing euphony of the English abbreviation, or because of Russia's non-participation in this organization. Be that as it may, the state policy will change or not, and the name is already well established in the Russian language in this version.

It would be unfair not to mention at least a couple of words other languages, which also contribute, albeit less, but to the development of the Russian language. Did you know that the well-known name of the pharmacy ointment "Vaseline" is also an abbreviation invented by the pharmacist who invented it? It consists of the first syllable of the German word for "water" (Wasser), the Greek word for "oil" (elion) and a suffix in Latin meaning belonging.

As you can see, a person who knows the origin and method of abbreviations can consider himself encyclopedically educated and can both solve and compose crossword puzzles. They also often contain abbreviations as encrypted words.

Dictionary and list of abbreviations

I am not so presumptuous as to call my article a complete and comprehensive study of abbreviations. Having paid attention only to frequently encountered and common abbreviations and how to create them in general, I have left out of our attention less used in everyday life or narrowly professional words and terms. However, to make your search easier, here are some helpful resources.

The most complete source on the Internet is the dictionary of abbreviations sokr.ru.

Explanations of English abbreviations can be found on the website acronymfinder.com.

And here is a page with a list of medical abbreviations on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_abbreviations

A complete list of all domain zones in the world - http://www.general-domain.ru/katalog/domain-zone-mira.php

Airport codes, according to ICAO - http://airspot.ru/catalogue/airports/icao.

Examples of well-known abbreviations

And in the end, I want to introduce you to a small selection of abbreviations that are common now, as well as in the recent past, which includes their correct spelling, meaning and translation.

CNG filling stations - automobile gas filling compressor stations

ANO is an autonomous non-profit organization

BDSM - transliteration from English bondage / discipline (BD) and domination / submission (DS)

BMW - (from German Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, - "Bavarian Motor Works") brand of cars

BRICS is a group of five partner countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa

GDP - gross domestic product

Komsomol - All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union or Komsomol - according to the last three words

VDGO - in-house gas equipment

VPO - 1. Higher professional education; 2. All-Union Pioneer Organization; 3. Vladimir production association; 4. Office of the presidential guard; 5. Paramilitary fire brigade; 6. wet industrial waste; 7. straightening-tamping-finishing machine; 8. out-of-furnace processing (steel); 9. Vnukovo Civil Aviation Production Association; 10. internal contracting organization; 11. subsoil irrigation; 12. Military consumer society; 13. malicious software; 14. All-Russian production association.

VTB - Foreign Trade Bank

university - higher education institution

VTsSPS - All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions

GMO - genetically modified organism

GAI - State traffic inspectorate

GBOU - State Budgetary Educational Institution

GIBDD - State Road Safety Inspectorate

Glavkoverkh (Supreme Commander-in-Chief in Russia during World War I)

GLONASS - Global Navigation Satellite System

GO - civil defense

GOST - state standard

GRBS is the main manager of budgetary funds

GTO - "Ready for work and defense" - a program of sports training for the population in the USSR

HPP - state power plant

GRES - state district power plant

ddt - 1. Traffic accident; 2. Insecticide (dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane)

DNA is a macromolecule containing the genetic code, its name is deoxyribonucleic acid

DOSAAF - a public-state association in the USSR (a voluntary society for the assistance of the army, aviation and navy)

DOW - children's (or preschool) educational institution

DTI - an additional technological index, used to indicate the transfer of official mail

EU - European Union

UES - Unified Energy System

ZAGS - state bodies of registration of acts of civil status

ZIP - spare parts, tools, accessories

TIN - taxpayer identification number

IFTS - Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service

CASCO - comprehensive car insurance, except for liability

KIPA - instrumentation and automation

checkpoint - checkpoint

KGB - State Security Committee

Laser - (from the English LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) - amplification of light by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

LGBT - lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender - a designation for people of non-traditional sexual orientation

MIA - Ministry of Internal Affairs

NATO - (from the English North Atlantic Treaty Organization) North Atlantic Alliance

MGUPI - Moscow State University of Instrument Engineering and Informatics

MDF - (from the English. Medium Density Fibreboard) d Medium density fiberboard

MIREA is outdated. Name of the Moscow Technological Institute, Moscow Institute of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Automation

mortuary - place of final registration of citizens (20s)

MOU - municipal educational institution

MRI - Magnetic Resonance Therapy

MREO - Interdistrict Registration and Examination Department

MTS - from English. Mobile Telephone System

MFC - multifunctional center

Ministry of Emergency Situations - Ministry of Emergency Situations

NTV - our television, the name of the Russian TV channel

NTD - normative and technical documentation

OKTMO - All-Russian classifier of territories of municipalities

UN - United Nations

RZD - Russian Railways

RSFSR - Russian Federative Socialist Republic

USSR - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

CIS - Commonwealth of Independent States

OJSC - open joint stock company

OSCE - Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

OGE - Main State Exam

OMON - special purpose mobile detachment

OSAGO is a policy of compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners

OFP - general physical training

PJSC - public joint stock company

pvc - polyvinyl chloride - colorless transparent plastic

PFR - Pension Fund of Russia

RANEPA - Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

RSChS - Russian (unified) system (prevention) of emergency situations

SZV - information about earnings (remuneration)

SKA is a sports club of the army, a hockey club that arose in the USSR

SMS - (from (English short message service - "short message service")

SNILS - insurance number of an individual personal account

SNT - garden non-profit partnership

St. Petersburg - St. Petersburg

AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

SPPK - relief spring safety valve

SRO - self-regulatory organization

Service station - service station

STS - 1. network of television stations; 2. cellular telephone connection; 3. ambulance ship

TASS - television agency of the Soviet Union

TNT - Your New Television, federal channel of Russia

CHP - combined heat and power plant

UKSUS - Department of Coordination of Supply and Sales Settlement

FMS - Office of the Federal Migration Service

UFSIN - Department of the Federal Penitentiary Service

FAPSI - federal agency of government communications and information

FAS - Federal Antimonopoly Service

GEF - Federal State Educational Standard

FSB - Federal Security Service

FSIN - Federal Penitentiary Service

FSKN - Federal Drug Control Service

FIFA - (from French Fédération Internationale de Football Association)

Federal executive authorities - federal executive authorities

CSKA - Central Army Sports Club, hockey team

UNESCO - (from the English UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) a specialized agency of the United Nations for education, science and culture

What other interesting abbreviations do you know?

Abbreviations are nouns consisting of the initial letters of the words (and their parts) included in the original phrase, as well as consisting of truncated parts of the original compound word. The last part of the phrase can be whole and in this form form the end of the abbreviation.

The main types of abbreviations and their spelling

Abbreviations are of several types:

1. Initial - these are abbreviations that consist only of the initial letters of the original phrase (for example: "UN" - United Nations, "NII" - Research Institute, "MFA" - Ministry of Foreign Affairs). These abbreviations are read as words or. Sometimes the pronunciation of letters does not match their name in the alphabet. In the word "FBI" the letter "F" is read as [fe], and the word "LFK" is pronounced [elfeka]. Please note that only capital letters are used to write words read by letter names, as well as read by sounds, if at least one word in the original phrase is capitalized. Traditionally, the abbreviations "university", "bunker", "rono", "dot" are written in lowercase letters.

2. Compound words are abbreviations consisting only of truncated words (“Minfin” - Ministry of Finance); from truncated words and letter designations, the so-called mixed abbreviations ("GlavAPU" - the Main Architectural and Planning Department, "AzSSR" - the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic); as well as from the whole and truncated words (“spare parts”, “savings bank”). The capital letter at the beginning of complex abbreviated words is written in the name of the institutions, and in mixed abbreviations, truncated words and other letters are written with a capital letter, denoting other words in the phrase (exception: "GULAG" - Main Directorate of (executive labor) camps). The rest of the abbreviated words are written in lowercase letters.

There are abbreviations that are written in accordance with the sound of the letters in their original expressions (for example: “eser” - socialist revolutionary).

There are also abbreviations with a double spelling: "state of emergency" or "chepe" - an emergency, "armored personnel carrier" or "beteer" - an armored personnel carrier.

Declension of abbreviations and their derivatives

When declining abbreviations, the endings are written in lowercase letters, without separation by a hyphen (for example: “workers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, “prisoners of the Gulag”).

Suffixal derivatives of abbreviations are written in capital letters (“tsskovsky”, “unovsky”, “traffic cop”). In prefix derivative words, abbreviations retain their spelling in capital letters, and prefixes are written together or

We do not like to print long phrases, and even more so to write by hand. And if there is an opportunity to reduce - why not use it? Today "Mel" considers abbreviations, the spelling of which may raise questions.

Short names of authorities, institutions and organizations are written with a capital letter, if in their full form they are also written with a capital letter. In this case, the rest of the letters in the word are written in lowercase.

The abbreviation Gosduma (from the State Duma) is used in the press and everyday speech, but is not allowed in official texts.

Correctly: State Duma

With abbreviations that are not spelled, but like ordinary words, it can be difficult. Those formed on behalf of their own are written in capital letters (OMON, RONO). And if from a common noun, then lowercase: a higher educational institution is a university. However, “university” has long been considered not an abbreviation, but an independent word.

Correctly: university

If the abbreviation is borrowed from a foreign language and is read in foreign letters, in Russian we write it in lowercase letters (except for the first one) and through a hyphen. No BBC or BBC. And if you don’t like the hyphenated option, then you can write in Latin - BBC.

Correctly: BBC

Above, we said that abbreviations formed from a common noun are written in lowercase letters. The fact is that the reduction of the minimum wage - the minimum wage - has not yet become a household word. Such a norm is fixed in the dictionary. We write in capital letters.

Correctly: SMIC.

The abbreviated spelling of the combination "last name, first name, patronymic" is preferable to write "Full name" or "full name" It is these standards that are given by the Russian Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ed. V. V. Lopatin and O. E. Ivanova. And no matter how much you want to avoid dots - do not forget to put them in the documents.

Correctly: FULL NAME.

The uncomplicated abbreviation "acting" stands for "acting". Separate with dots, write in lower case abbreviation and indicate the position (director, editor-in-chief).

Correctly: and. about.

But the abbreviation for "temporarily acting" is spelled completely differently. Just remember this spelling, because it's hard to argue with the spelling dictionary.

Correctly: interim