| abbreviation |
| Definition - A shortened version of a word. |
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Example - The words laser (an acronym), zip (an anacronym), BBC (an initialism), and Ltd. (an abbreviated form of the word Limited) are all types of abbreviations. Note: The symbol @, when it stands for the word at, is not an abbreviation; it is a phonogram. |
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Usage: 1. According to Fowler' Modern English Usage: (1) If the abbreviation was made by removing letters from the end of the word, end it with a period (e.g., dict. for dictionary). (2) If the abbreviation was made by removing letters from the middle of the word, don't end it with a period (e.g. Mr for Mister). |
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Etymology - The word derives via Middle French from the Late Latin abbreviationem, made brief (from ad, to + breviare, shorten). |
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Oxford English Dictionary - The first citation for the word in this sense is from 1727: "Most of the books we see now-a-days are full of those manglings and abbreviations." (Jonathan Swift, Letter on Eng. Wks. 1755 II. i. 188) |