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Origin and history of initialism

initialism(n.)

"written word formed from the first letters, in order, of other words in a name or phrase," 1957, from initial (n.) + -ism. The word was used earlier in a sense "group of initial letters of an author's name (rather than the full name) on a publication" (1868). An earlier term for what we now call an initialism was alphabetic abbreviation (1907).

The distinction from acronym is not universally agreed-upon; but in general, cases such as NATO, where the letters always are sounded as a word, are regarded as acronyms, those such as FBI, where the letters sound as letters, are initial-words or initialisms. The use of acronym in entries in this dictionary that are technically initialisms is a deliberate error, because many people will search all such words using "acronym."

also from 1957

Entries linking to initialism

acronym(n.)

word formed from the first letters of a series of words, 1943, American English coinage from acro- + -onym "name" (abstracted from homonym; ultimately from PIE root *no-men- "name"). With the exception of cabalistic esoterica and acrostic poetry, this way of forming words was uncommon before the 20th century. For distinction of use (regretfully ignored on this site), see initialism.

initial(n.)

"initial letter of a name or surname," 1620s, from initial (adj.) in a specialized sense "standing at the beginning of a word, sentence, etc." (1620s).

-ism

word-forming element making nouns implying a practice, system, doctrine, etc., from French -isme or directly from Latin -isma, -ismus (source also of Italian, Spanish -ismo, Dutch, German -ismus), from Greek -ismos, noun ending signifying the practice or teaching of a thing, from the stem of verbs in -izein, a verb-forming element denoting the doing of the noun or adjective to which it is attached. For distinction of use, see -ity. The related Greek suffix -isma(t)- affects some forms.

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    More to explore

    a.s.a.p.
    also asap, adverbial phrase pronounced either as a word (acronym) or as four letters (initialism), 1920, in a list of abbreviations...
    P.D.Q.
    also pdq, initialism (acronym) for pretty damn quick, attested from 1875 in "The Mighty Dollar" a popular play of the day...
    VIP
    also V.I.P., 1933, initialism (acronym) for very important person or personage; not common until after World War II....
    SOS
    Not an initialism (acronym) for "save our ship" or anything else....
    abbreviation
    early 15c., abbreviacioun, "shortness; act of shortening; a shortened thing," from Old French abréviation (15c.) and directly from Late Latin abbreviationem (nominative abbreviatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of abbreviare "shorten, make brief," from Latin ad "to"
    person
    c. 1200, persoun, "an individual, a human being," from Old French persone "human being, anyone, person" (12c., Modern French personne) and directly from Latin persona "human being, person, personage; a part in a drama, assumed character," originally "a mask, a false face," such a
    abound
    "be in great plenty," early 14c., from Old French abonder "to abound, be abundant, come together in great numbers" (12c.), from Latin abundare "overflow, run over," from Latin ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + undare "rise in a wave," from unda "a wave" (from PIE *unda-, nasalized
    fairy
    c. 1300, fairie, "the country or home of supernatural or legendary creatures; fairyland," also "something incredible or fictitious," from Old French faerie "land of fairies, meeting of fairies; enchantment, magic, witchcraft, sorcery" (12c.), from fae "fay," from Latin fata "the
    sophomore
    1680s, "student in the second year of university study," literally "arguer," altered from sophumer (1650s), from sophume, an archaic variant form of sophism, ultimately from Greek sophistēs "a master of one's craft; a wise or prudent man, one clever in matters of daily life." The
    assess
    early 15c., "to fix the amount (of a tax, fine, etc.)," from Anglo-French assesser, from Medieval Latin assessare "fix a tax upon," originally frequentative of Latin assessus "a sitting by," past participle of assidere/adsidere "to sit beside" (and thus to assist in the office of

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