acronyms

A word formed from the first letter or letters of a series of words. Examples:

• SCUBA stands for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
• NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration

In most instances of acronyms, spell out the phrase of words first and put the acronym after it in parentheses on first use. Use the acronym on all subsequent uses. If the acronym is most commonly recognized — for example, NASA, SCUBA, Navy SEALS, SWAT, CAPTCHA — put the acronym first and then spell out the phrase of words in parentheses on first reference if absolutely necessary. In rare instances, only the acronym is necessary — for example, the company name YAHOO!, which started as an acronym, UNICEF, NASCAR, NAACP, or TED Talks. For such cases, the word or phrase is rarely or no longer used.

In instances of acronyms for slang or shorthand — BRB, POTUS, YOLO — avoid acronyms in news stories.

Capitalize all letters of the acronym – no periods – in most cases, with rare exceptions.

To avoid confusion between acronyms that look like words and their “twins,” be sure to use all capital letters. For example:

• SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) and swat (transitive verb, to hit with a sharp slapping blow usually with an instrument)
• MAMAS (Mutual Aid of Medford and Somerville) and Mamas (plural colloquial noun, mother; plural slang noun, sexy attractive older woman).

For accessibility and screen reader purposes, mark acronyms for copy before publishing to the web with the <abbr> tag. Examples:

• <abbr title="Equal Access Public Media">EAPM</abbr>
• <abbr title="Mutual Aid of Medford and Somerville">MAMAS</abbr>
• <abbr title="Greenville Area Transit>GREAT</abbr>

They will render on the page as:>

• EAPM
• MAMAS
• GREAT

For acronyms better known by their acronym or no longer known at all by the words that made up the acronym, use that in the <abbr>; tag. Examples:

• <abbr title="Unicef">UNICEF</abbr> which will render as UNICEF
• <abbr title="Nascar">NASCAR</abbr> which will render as NASCAR
• <abbr title="N A A C P">NAACP</abbr> which will render as NAACP