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General Acronyms
Here's a list of over 2,500 acronyms. If you happen to be looking for the Chat and Usenet
acronyms instead, then please Click Here for that page.

1. Click on a letter to go to that section of the list.

2. Click on the big letters at the top of the sections to return to this index.
3. Or you can just scroll through the list manually.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

N O PQ R S T U V W XYZ

(Top) (Home)

2D 2-Dimensional
3D 3-Dimensional
3M Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
4GL Fourth Generation Language
4H Head, Heart, Hands, Health
A Aftermath
A&M Agricultural and Mechanical
A/D Analog to Digital converter (see ADC)
A/P Accounts Payable
A/R Accounts Receivable
AA Affirmative Action committee
AA Alcoholics Anonymous
AA Antiaircraft Artillery
AA Associate in Accounting
AA Automobile Association (in England)
AAA American Automobile Association
AAAL American Academy of Arts and Letters
AAAS American Association for the
Advancement of Science
AAII American Association of Individual Investors
AAMSI American Association for
Medical Systems Informatics
AAP Affirmative Action Program
AARC Anglo-American Cataloging Rules
AB ABle seaman
ABA American Bar Association
ABA American Basketball Association
ABA American Booksellers Association
ABBR ABBReviation
ABC American Broadcasting Company
AC Alternating Current (ac, see also DC)
AC Ante Christum (before Christ)
AC Ante Cibum (before meals)
ACAA Agricultural Conservation and
Adjustment Administration
ACAWS Advisory, Caution, And Warning System
ACBL American Contract Bridge League
ACC Argonne Code Center
ACCS Army Command and Control System
ACD Automatic Call Distributing system
ACE Automatic Calibration and Equalization
ACHEFT Automated ClearingHouse Electronic
Funds Transfer
ACK ACKnowledge
ACL Advanced Cmos Logic
ACM Association for Computing Machinery
ACO Acronym Control Officer
ACS Advanced Communications System
ACTS Advanced Communications Technology Satellite
ACTS Automatic Coin Telephone Service
ACU Alarm Control Unit
ACW Alternating Continuous Waves
AD After Date
AD Anno Domini (in the year of our Lord)
AD Application Development
AD&D Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
ADB A DeBugger
ADB Apple Desktop Bus
ADC Analog to Digital Converter
ADCI Automatic Display Call Indicator
ADF Automatic Direction Finder
ADM ADMiral
ADP Adenosine Di-Phosphate
ADP Administrative Data Processing
ADP Advanced Data Processing
ADS Application Development System
ADS Automatic Voice System
ADSR Attack Decay Sustain Release
ADT Abstract Data Type
ADT Atlantic Daylight Time
AE Application Execution
AEA American Electronics Association
AEC Atomic Energy Commission
AEF American Expeditionary Force (see BEF)
AEGIS Advanced Electronic Guidance and
Instrumentation System
AF Adventures in Fantasy
AF Air Force
AF Audio Frequency
AFADS Automatic Force Adjustment Data System
AFATDS Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System
AFB Air Force Base
AFC American Football Conference
AFC Automatic Flight Control
AFC Automatic Frequency Control
AFCAC Air Force Computer Acquisition Center
AFCC Air Force Communications Command
AFGE American Federation of Government Employees
AFIPS American Federation of Information
Processing Societies
AFL American Federation of Labor
AFL American Football League
AFLCIO American Federation of Labor and Congress of
Industrial Organizations
AFNOR Association Francaise de NORmalization
AFP Appletalk Filing Protocol
AFS Andrew File System
AFSC Air Force Systems Command
AFSCME American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees
AFTRA American Federation of Television and
Radio Artists
AG Adjutant General
AG Arcade Game
AG Attorney General
AGCT Army General Classification Test
AH Avalon Hill (major war game manufacturer)
AHL American Hockey League
AHQ Air HeadQuarters
AI Artificial Intelligence
AIAA American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics
AIC Automatic Intercept Center
AID Agency for International Development
AIDDE Ames' Interactive Dynamic Display Editor
AIDS Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome
AIOD Automatic Identification Outward Dialing
AIS Automatic Intercept System
AIX Advanced Interactive eXecutive (unix)
AK Alaska
AKA Also Known As
AL Alabama
AL American League (baseball)
ALA American Library Association
ALA Automobile Legal Association
ALBM Air-to-Land Ballistic Missile
ALC Automatic Load Control
ALGOL ALGOrithmic Language
ALU Arithmetic Logic Unit
AM Amplitude Modulation
AM Ante Meridiem (before noon)
AMA American Medical Association
AMA Automatic Message Accounting
AMARC Automatic Message Accounting Recording Center
AMBA Association of Master of Business Administration
AMC Albany Medical College
AMD Advanced Micro Devices
AMEX AMerican EXpress
AMORC Ancient Mystic Order Rosae Crucis
AMP Adenosine MonoPhosphate
AMPAS Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
AMRAAM Advanced Medium Range Air-To-Air Missile
AMSAT radio AMateur SATellite corp.
AMU Atomic Mass Unit
AMVET AMerican VETeran
ANA American Nurses Association
ANC All Number Calling
ANC Army Nurse Corps
ANDF Architecture-Neural Distribution Format
ANF Automatic Number Forwarding
ANG Air National Guard
ANI Automatic Number Identification
ANL Argonne National Laboratory
ANOVA ANalysis Of VAriance
ANPA American Newspaper Publishers Association
ANSI American National Standards Institute
ANZUS Australia, New Zealand, United States
AO Account Of
AOL America On Line, Absent Over Leave (see AWOL)
AOS Academic Operating System
AP Additional Premium
AP All Points
AP Associated Press
APA All Points Addressable
APB All Points Bulletin
APDA Apple Programmers and Developers Association
API Application Programming Interface
APICS American Production and Inventory
Control Society
ApJ Astrophysical Journal
APO Army Post Office
APP Applications Portability Profile
APPC Advanced Peer-to-Peer Communications
APR Annual Percentage Rate (as in loan interest)
APSE Ada Programming Support Environment
AQ Accumulator-Quotient register
AR Address Register
AR Arkansas
ARC American Red Cross
ARCNET Attached Resource Computer local area NETwork
ARO After Receipt of Order
ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency
ARPANET Advanced Research Projects Agency NETwork
ARRL Amateur Radio Relay League
ARV American Revised Version
AS Anglo-Saxon
ASA Acetyl Salicylic Acid
ASAP As Soon As Possible
ASC Accredited Standards Committee
ASCAP American Society of Composers, Authors,
and Publishers
ASCC Automatic Sequence-Controlled Calculator
ASCII American Standard Code for
 Information Interchange
ASDIC Anti-Submarine Detection Investigation
Committee (British for sonar)
ASDSP Application-Specific Digital Signal Processor
ASG Automated Sciences Group
ASHRAE Amer. Soc. of Heating, Refrigerating
and Air-cond. Engineers, inc.
ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit
ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers
ASP Aggregated Switch Procurement
ASSR Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
AST Atlantic Standard Time
ASV American Standard Version
AT Atlantic Time
AT&T American Telephone & Telegraph
ATA Automatic Trouble Analysis
ATACC Advanced Tactical Air Command Central
ATB Advanced Technology Bomber (stealth bomber)
ATC Air Traffic Control
ATF Advanced Technology Fighter
ATIS Atherton Tools Interface Specification
ATM Automatic Teller Machine
ATOMS AT&t Optimized Materials Simulator
ATP Adenosine TriPhosphate
ATPCO Airline Tariff Publishing COmpany
ATTIS American Telephone and Telegraph
Information Systems
ATV All Terrain Vehicle
AUS Army of the United States
AUTODIN AUTOmatic DIgital Network
AUTOVON AUTOmatic VOice Network
AV AudioVisual
AVLIS Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation
AWACS Airborne Warnings And Control Systems
AWEA American Wind Energy Association
AWK al Aho, peter Weinberger, brian Kernighan
(pattern scanning language)
AWOL Absent WithOut Leave (also Absent
Without Official Leave) (see AOL)

B Book
BA Bachelor of Arts
BACH Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp
BAFO Best And Final Offer
BASIC Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code
BB Bases on Balls
BB Best of Breed
BB Bunnies and Burrows
BBA Bachelor of Business Administration
BBB Better Business Bureau
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
BBL Barrel
BBN Bolt, Beranek, and Newman
BC Battlecars
BC Before Christ
BC British Columbia
BC/BS Blue Cross/Blue Shield
BCD Bad Conduct Discharge
BCD Binary Coded Decimal
BCDIC Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
BCE Before the Common Era (substitute for BC)
BCP Byte Controlled Protocols
BCPL Basic Combined Programming Language
BCS Bachelor of Commercial Science
BCS Binary Compatibility Standard
BCS Boston Computer Society
BCS British Computer Society
BD Bachelor of Divinity
BD Bank Draft
BD Bills Discounted
BD&D Basic Dungeons & Dragons
BDF Binary Distribution Format
BDT Billing Data Transmitter
BE Bill of Exchange
BEF British Expeditionary Force (see AEF)
BELCORE BELL COmmunications REsearch
BEM Bug Eyed Monster
BENELUX BElgium, NEtherlands, and LUXembourg
BER Bit Error Rate
BEST Borland Enhanced Support and Training
BF Brought Forward
BFA Bachelor of Fine Arts
BFD Big F***ing Deal
BFHD Big Fat Hairy Deal
BH Boot Hill
BHP Brake HorsePower
BICS Building Industry Consulting Services
BID Bis In Die (twice a day)
BIOC Break Into Other Computers
BIOS Basic Input Output System
BIS Business Information System
BLAST BLocked ASynchronous Transmission
BLF Busy Line Field
BLT BLock Transfer
BLT Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato
BM Basal Metabolism
BM Bowel Movement
BMA Bank Marketing Association
BMEWS Ballistic Missile Early Warning
BMO Ballistic Missile Office
BMOC Big Man On Campus
BMR Basal Metabolism Rate
BNF Bachus-Naur Form
BO Body Odor
BO Branch Office
BO Buyer's Option
BOC Bell Operating Company
BOD Board Of Directors
BOF Birds Of a Feather
BOM Bill Of Materials
BOQ Bachelor Officers' Quarters
BOS Business Office Supervisor
BOSIX Biin Open System Interface eXtension
BP Blood Pressure
BP British Pharmacopoeia
BPI Bits Per Inch
BPOE Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
BPS Bits Per Second
BR Bills Receivable
BR British Rail
BRIEF Basic Reconfigurable Interactive
Editing Facility
BRL army Ballistic Research Laboratory
BRS Bibliographic Retrieval Service
BS Bachelor of Science
BS Bill of Sale
BSA Birmingham Small Arms
BSA Boy Scouts of America
BSC Binary Synchronous Communication
BSD Berkeley Software Distribution
BSN Bachelor of Science in Nursing
BSS Block Started by Symbol
BSTJ Bell System Technical Journal
BSc Bachelor of SCience
BTL Bell Telephone Laboratories
BTO Bachman Turner Overdrive
BTU British Thermal Unit
BTW By The Way
BThU British Thermal Unit
BU Bushido
BV Blessed Virgin
BWI Baltimore-Washington International (airport)
BWI British West Indies
BX Base eXchange (see PX)
Bit BInary digiT

C programming language, successor to BCPL

C&S Chivalry & Sorcery
C/O in Care Of
CA California
CA Chartered Accountant
CA Chief Accountant
CA Chronological Age
CAB Civil Aeronautics Board
CACM Communications of the Association
for Computing Machinery
CAD Computer Aided Design (sometimes seen as CAD/CAM)
CAE Common Applications Environment
CAE Computer Aided Engineering
CAIS Common Apse Interface Specification
CALS Computer-aided Acquisition and Logistics Support
CAM Computer Aided Management
CAM Computer Aided Manufacturing (sometimes
seen as CAD/CAM)
CAM Content Addressable Memory
CAMA Centralized Automatic Message Accounting
CAMP Campaign Against Marijuana Planting
CAP Civil Air Patrol
CAP Columbia Appletalk Package
CAR Contents of the Address part of the Register
CASE Computer Aided Software Engineering
CASSIS Classification and Search Support
Information System
CAT Computer-Aided Tomography
CATIS Common Applications and Tools
Integration Services
CATV Community Antenna TeleVision
CAVU Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited
CB Citizens Band radio
CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
CBD Cash Before Delivery
CBD Commerce Business Daily
CBEMA Computer & Business Equipment
Manufacturers Association
CBR Chemical, Biological, Radiological warfare
CBS Columbia Broadcasting System
CBW Chemical and Biological Warfare
CC Carbon Copy
CCA Computer Corporation of America
CCC Canadian Committee on Cataloging
CCC Civil(ian) Conservation Corps
CCC Command, Control, and Communications
CCCCM CCC CounterMeasures (sometimes C^3CM)
CCCI Command, Control, Communications,
and Intelligence
CCD Charge Coupled Device (see CID)
CCI Computer Carrier Interrupt
CCI Computer Consoles, Incorporated
CCIP Continuously Computed Impact Point
CCIS Common Channel Interoffice Signaling
CCITT Comite' Consultatif International
Telegraphique et Telephonique
CCR Commitment, Concurrency, and Recovery
CCR Creedence Clearwater Revival
CCRP Continuously Computed Release Point
CCSA Common Control Switching Arrangement
CCTA Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency
CCTV Closed Circuit TeleVision
CD Certificate of Deposit
CD Civil Defense
CD Compact Disk
CD-ROM Compact Disk Read Only Memory
CDA Call Data Accumulator
CDA Compound Documents Architecture
CDC Centers for Disease Control
CDC Control Data Corporation, inc.
CDEV Control panel DEVice
CDIAC Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
CDO Community Dial Office
CDR CommanDeR
CDR Contents of the Decrement part of the Register
CDT Central Daylight Time
CDU Control Display Unit
CE Chemical Engineer
CE Civil Engineer
CE Common Era (substitute for AD)
CE Corps of Engineers
CE Customer Engineer
CEA Council of Economic Advisors
CEA County Education Authority
CEC Commission of the European Communities
CED Committee for Economic Development
CENS Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires de Seclay
CENTO CENtral Treaty Organization
CEO Chief Executive Officer
CERN organisation (formerly Conseil) Europeenne pour
la Recherche Nucleaires
CERT Computer Emergency Response Team
CEVI Common Equipment Voltage Indicator
CF Carry Forward
CF Coin First payphone
CFC Chloro-FluoroCarbon
CFC Combined Federal Campaign
CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics
CFI Cost, Freight, and Insurance
CFL Canadian Football League
CFO Chief Financial Officer
CG Coast Guard
CG Commanding General
CG&E Cincinnati Gas & Electric
CGA Color Graphics Adapter
CGCT Compagnie Generale de Constructions
Telephoniques
CGE Compagnie Generale d'Electricite
CH Cardboard Heroes
CH ClearingHouse
CH CourtHouse
CH Customs House
CHA Champions
CHAP CHAnnel Processor
CHI Chill: Adventures into the Unknown
CHOTS Corporate Headquarters Office
Technology System
CHP California Highway Patrol
CI Cubic Inches
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CICA Competition in Contracting Act
CICS Customer Information Control System
CID Central Institute for the Deaf
CID Charge Injection Device (see CCD)
CID Computer Integrated Design
CIDIN Common Icao Data Interchange Network
CIM Computer Integrated Manufacturing
CIO Chief Information Officer
CISC Complex Instruction Set Computer
CIT California Institute of Technology
CIT Case Institute of Technology (part of
CWRU, Cleveland, OH)
CLASP Comprehensive Logistics Automated
Support Program
CLI Command Line Interpreter
CLR Combined Line and Recording
CLRC Circuit Layout Record Card
CLU Chartered Life Underwriter
CLUT Color LookUp Table
CM Congregation of the Mission
CMC Communication Machinery Corp.
CMD Centralized Message Distribution
CML Current Model Logic
CMMU Cache/Memory Management Unit
CMOS Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductor (see MOS)
CMRR Common Mode Rejection Ratio
CMS Circuit Maintenance System
CMSgt Chief Master Sergeant
CMU Carnegie-Mellon University
CMYK Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, blacK
CN Canadian National (railways)
CN/A Customer Name / Address
CNN Cable News Network
CNO Chief of Naval Operations
CNR Canadian National Railways
CNR Carrier to Noise Ratio
CNS Central Nervous System
CO Cash Order
CO Central Office
CO Central Office (telephony)
CO Colorado
CO Commanding Officer
CO Conscientious Objector
COB Close Of Business
COBOL COmmon Business Oriented Language
COC Call of Cthulhu
COD Collect On Delivery, Cash On Delivery
CODEC COder-DECoder
COER Central Office Equipment Report
COLA Cost-Of-Living Allowance
COMAS Central Office Maintenance and
Administration System
COMPACT COMmercial Product ACquisition Team
CONS Connection-Oriented Networking Session
CORE COntrolled Requirement Expression
CORN COmputer Resource Nucleus
COS Corporation for Open Systems
COSMIC COmmon System Main InterConnecting frame
COSMIC COmputer Software Management and
Information Center
COSMOS COmputer System for Mainframe OperationS
CP Canadian Pacific
CP Chemically Pure
CP CoPy
CP Command Post
CP Command Processor
CP the Canadian Press
CPA Certified Public Accountant
CPFF Cost Plus Fixed Fee
CPI Characters Per Inch
CPI Common Programming Interface
CPL Combined Programming Language
CPM Control Program for
Microcomputers (sometimes CP/M)
CPO Chief Petty Officer
CPO Chief Post Office
CPO Customer Premises Equipment
CPR Canadian Pacific Railway
CPS Characters Per Second
CPSR Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
CPT CaPTain
CPU Central Processor Unit
CPW Certified Public Weigher
CQ Change of Quarters
CQ Charge of Quarters
CR Carriage Return (ASCII 15 octal)
CRAM Card Random Access Memory
CRC Chemical Rubber Company
CRC Cyclical Redundancy Character
CREG Concentrated Range Extension with Gain
CRT Cathode Ray Tube (also generic reference
to a terminal)
CRTC Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission
CS Civil Servant
CS Computer Science, Computing Science
CS County Seat
CSA Confederate States of America
CSAB Computing Sciences Accreditation Board
CSACS Centralized Status, Alarm and Control System
CSC Computer Sciences Corporation
CSDC Circuit Switched Digital Capability
CSF Critical Success Factor
CSI Commercial Systems Integration
CSIS Canadian Security and Intelligence Service
CSL Coin Supervising Link
CSM Command Sergeant Major
CSMA/CD Carrier Sense
Multiple Access/Collision Detection
CSO Central Services Organization
CSOC Consolidated Space Operations Center
(at Colorado Springs)
CSP Control Switching Point
CSR Control and Status Register
CSRG Computer Systems Research Group
CSRS civil Service Retirement System
CSS Customer Switching System
CST Central Standard Time
CT Central Time
CT Connecticut
CTC Canadian Transport Commission
CTC Centralized Traffic Control (railways)
CTD Computing and Telecommunications Division
CTIO Cerro Tololo Inter-american Observatory
CTNE Compania Telefonica Nacional de Espana
CTS Compatible Timesharing System
CTV Canadian TeleVision network
CU Close-Up
CUA Common User Access
CV Curriculum Vitae
CW Car Wars
CW Chemical Warfare
CW Child Welfare
CW Churchwarden
CW Continuous Wave
CWO Cash With Order
CWO Chief Warrant Officer
CWRU Case Western Reserve University
CXI Common X-windows Interface
CY Calendar Year
CYO Catholic Youth Organization
CZ Canal Zone

D Depth
D&D Dungeons & Dragons
D/A Digital to Analog converter
D/F Direction Finding
DA Days after Acceptance
DA Department of Agriculture
DA Deposit Account
DA Directory Assistance
(/C = computerized, /M = Microfilm)
DA District Attorney
DA Don't Answer
DAC Digital to Analog Converter
DACCS Digital Access Cross Connect System
DAD Draft ADdendum
DAR Daughters of the American Revolution
DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DASD Direct Access Storage Device
DAT Digital Audio Tape
DATA Defense Air Transport Administration
DAV Disabled American Veterans
DB DataBase
DB DeciBels
DBF DBase Format
DBME DataBase Managment Environment
DBMS DataBase Management System
 (rdbms for Relational...)
DBRAD Data Base Relational Application Directory
DC Direct Current (dc, see also AC)
DC District of Columbia
DCA Defense Communications Agency
DCA Distributed Communication Architecture
DCA Document Content Architecture
DCC Descriptive Cataloging Committee
DCCO Defense Commercial Communications Office
DCE Data Communication Equipment
DCL Digital Command Language
DCP Distributed Communications Processor
DCTS Dimension Custom Telephone Service
DD Daredevils
DD Data Dictionary
DD Days after Date
DD Demand Draft
DD Dishonorable Discharge
DD Disk Drive
DD Doctor of Divinity
DDC Digital Data Converter
DDD Direct Distance Dial(ing)
DDL Document Description Language
DDN Defense Data Network
DDP Distributed Data Processing
DDS Doctor of Dental Science
DDS Doctor of Dental Surgery
DE Delaware
DEA Drug Enforcement Agency
DEAR Department of Energy Acquisition Regulation
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation
DES Data Encryption Standard
DEW Distant Early Warning (as in DEW Line)
DF Damage Free
DF Direction Finding
DFC Distinguished Flying Cross
DFD Data Flow Diagram
DFE Data Flow Editor
DFM Distinguished Flying Medal
DFS Depth-First Search
DFW Dallas-Ft.Worth (regional airport)
DG Dei Gratia (by the grace of God)
DG Director General
DGSC Defense General Supply Center
DHHS Department of Health and Human Services
DHSS british Department of Health and Social Security
DIA Document Interchange Architecture
DIAD (magnetic) Drum Information Assembler/Dispatcher
DIAL Direct Information Access Line
DIAS Defense Automatic Integrated System
DID Direct Inward Dialing
DIF Document Interchange Format
DIN Deutsches Institut fur Normung
DIRE Dire Is Really Emacs
DIS Draft International Standard (ISO)
DISOSS DIStributed Office Support System
DIY Do It Yourself
DJ Disc Jockey
DLA Defense Logistics Agency
DLL Dial Long Line equipment
DLO Dead Letter Office
DM Dungeon Master
DMA Direct Memory Access
DMD Doctor of Dental Medicine
DME Distance Measuring Equipment
DMOS Diffusion Metal Oxide
Semiconductor (see MOS)
DMV Department of Motor Vehicles
DMZ DeMilitarized Zone
DNA DeoxyriboNucleic Acid
DNA Digital Network Architecture
DNHR Dynamic NonHierarchical Routing
DNIC Data Network Identification Code
DNL Director of Naval Laboratories
DNR Dialed Number Recorder
DOA Dead On Arrival
DOB Date Of Birth
DOC Dynamic Overload Control
DOD Department Of Defense
DOE Department of Energy
DOMAIN Distributed Operating Multi Access
Interactive Network (Apollo)
DOS Disk Operating System
DOT Department Of Transportation
DOT&E Director, Operational Test and Evaluation
DP Data Processing
DP Dial Pulse
DP Displaced Persons (expelled from native land)
DP Display Postscript
DP Double Play
DP Draft Proposal
DPA Delegation of Procurement Authority
DPANS Draft Proposed American National Standard
DPI Dots Per Inch
DPS Display PostScript
DQ Dairy Queen
DQ Dragon Quest
DQL Database Query Language
DR Dead Reckoning
DR Dining Room
DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory
(as opposed to static RAM)
DRD Data Reading Device
DRE Directional Reservation Equipment
DRG Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany)
DRI Digital Research, Incorporated
DS Double-Sided
DSA Dial System Assistance
DSE Data Structure Editor
DSEE Domain Software Engineering Environment
DSM Distinguished Service Medal
DSO Distinguished Service Order
DSP Decessit Sine Prole (died without issue)
DSP Digital Signal Processing
DSRI Digital Standard Relational Interface
DSS Decision Support System
DSS Direct Station Selection
DST Daylight Saving Time
DSTN Double SuperTwisted Nematic
DT Delirium Tremens
DTE Data Terminal Equipment
DTF Dial Tone First payphone
DTMF Dial Tone Multi Frequency
DTP DeskTop Publishing
DTR Data Terminal Ready
DUI Driving Under the Influence
DUT Device Under Test
DV Deo Vo lente (God willing)
DVD Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc
DVM Digital Volt Meter
DVM Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
DWAPS Defense Warehousing Automated
Processing System
DWI Driving While Intoxicated
DWIM Do What I Mean
DX Distance (as in long distance
radio communication)
DXT Data eXtractT facility

E East
E Espionage
E&EO Errors and Omissions Excepted
E-MAIL Electronic MAIL
EADASS Engineering and Administrative Data
AcquiSition System
EAS Extended Area Service (or Engineering
Admin. System)
EBCDIC Extended Binary Coded Decimal
Interchange Code
ECAFE Economic Commission for Africa
and the Far East
ECASS Electronically Controlled Automatic
Switching System
ECASS Export Control Automated Support System
ECC Error Correction Code
ECCM Electronic Counter-CounterMeasures
ECDO Electronic Community Dial Office
ECG ElectroCardioGram
ECL Emitter Coupled Logic (see also TTL)
ECM Electronic Counter Measure
ECM European Common Market
ECO Electronic Central Office
ECO Engineering Change Order
ECT ElectroConvulsive Therapy
ED&D Expert Dungeons & Dragons
EDGAR Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis,
and Retrieval
EDI Electronic Data Interchange
EDIF Electronic Design Interchange Format
EDP Electronic Data Processing
EDS Electronic Data Systems
EDT Eastern Daylight Time
EDTA Ethylene Diamine Tetraacetic Acid
EDTCC Electronic Data Transmission
Communications Central
EE Electrical Engineer
EE Electrical or Electronics Engineer
EEC European Economic Community
EEG ElectroEncephaloGram
EEL Epsilon Extension Language
EEPROM Electrically Erasable Programmable
Read Only Memory
EGA Enhanced Graphics Adapter
EHF Extremely High Frequency (30-300GHz)
EINE EINE Is Not Emacs
EISA Extended Industry-Standard Architecture
EISS European Intelligence Support System
EKG ElectroKardioGramm (see ECG)
EL ElectroLuminescent (as in display)
ELF Extremely Low Frequency
ELO Electric Light Orchestra
ELP Emerson, Lake and Palmer (or Powell)
EM Enlisted Man (see EW)
EMA Electronic Mail Association
EMACS Editor MACroS
EMACS Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping
EMF ElectroMotive Force
EMI ElectroMagnetic Interference
EMP Electromagnetic Pulse
EMPRESS EnvironMental Pulse Radiation Environment
Simulator for Ships
EMR ElectroMagnetic Response
EMS Electronic Message System
EMS Extended Memory Specification
EMT Emergency Medical Technician
EMU ElectroMagnetic Unit
ENIAC Electronic Numerical Integrator
and Calculator
ENS ENSign
EO End Office
EO Erasable Optical
EOF End Of File
EOM End Of Month
EP Experience Points
EP Extended Play
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
EPOS Engineering and Project-management
Oriented Support system
EPRI Electric Power Research Institute
EPROM Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory
EPS Encapsulated PostScript
EPT Empire of the Petal Throne
EQ Educational Quotient (see IQ)
ER Emergency Room
ERA Earned Run Average
ERA Entity-Relationship-Attribute
ERA Equal Rights Amendment
ERD Entity-Relation Diagram
ERE Entity Relationship Editor
ES Expert System
ESA European Space Agency
ESAC Electronic Systems Assistance Center
ESDI Enhanced Standard Device Interface
ESE East South East
ESM Electronic Support Measures
ESO European Southern Observatory
ESP Extra Sensory Perception
ESPS Entropic Signal Processing System
ESS Electronic Switching System
ESSEX Experimental Solid State EXchange
EST Eastern Standard Time
ET Eastern Time
ET ExtraTerrestrial
ETA Estimated Time of Arrival
ETC Et cetera, and so on...
ETD Estimated Time of Departure
ETFD Electronic Toll Fraud Device
ETH Eidgnoessiche Techniche Hochschule
ETS Electronic Translator System
ETV Education TeleVision
EUUG European Unix User Group
EVA ExtraVehicular Activity
EVX Electronic Voice eXchange
EW Electronic Warfare
EW Enlisted Woman (see EM)
EWOS European Workshop for Open Systems

FA Football Association (British soccer--a word

derived from Association)
FAA Federal Aviation Agency
FACD Foreign Area Customer Dialing
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
of The United States
FAR Federal Acquisition Regulations
FAS Foreign Agricultural Service
FAS Free Alongside Ship
FASST Flexible Architecture Standard
System Technology
FAT Foreign Area Translation
FAX FAcsimile
FB Freight Bill
FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation
FCC Federal Communication Commission
FCC Federal Computer Conference
FDA Food and Drug Administration
FDDI Fiber Distributed Data Interface
FDHD Floppy Drive High Density
FDIC Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing
FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt
FEA Finite Element Analysis
FEDSIM FEDeral Systems Integration and
Management center
FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency
FEPC Fair Employment Practices Commission
FERS Federal Employees Retirement System
FET Federal Excise Tax
FET Field Effect Transistor
FFA Future Farmers of America
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
FHA Federal Home Administration
FHA Future Homemakers of America
FIB Focused Ion Beam
FICA Federal Insurance Contributions Act
FIDO Fog Investigation Dispersal Operation
FIFO First In First Out (as in registers
and buffers)
FILO First In Last Out (see also FIFO)
FIMS Forms Interface Management System
FINE FINE Is Not Emacs
FIO Frequency In and Out
FIPS Federal Information Processing Standard
FIR Finite Impulse Response
FIRMR Federal Information Resource
Management Regulation
FIT Federal Information Technologies, inc.
FL Florida
FLACC Full Level Algol Checkout Compiler
FLOPS FLoating-point OPerations per Second
FLRA Federal Labor Relations Authority
FM Frequency Modulation
FMB Federal Maritime Board
FMCS Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
FMS Financial Management Service (Treasury Dept)
FMS Forms Management System
FO Foreign Office
FO Forward Observer
FOAC Federal Office Automation Center
FOB Free On Board
FOC Free Of Charge
FOIA Freedom Of Information Act
FOIMS Field Office Information Management System
FOOBAR See FUBAR
FOR Free On Rail
FORCS Faa's Operational Reporting
Communication System
FORD Fix Or Repair Daily
FORD Found On Road Dead
FORTRAN FORmula TRANslator
FOSE Federal Office Systems Exposition
FOT Free On Truck
FOV Field Of View
FPA Floating Point Accelerator
FPC Fish Protein Concentrate
FPE Floating Point Engine
FPHA Federal Public Housing Authority
FPLA Field Programmable Logic Array (see PLA)
FPM Feet Per Minute
FPO Field Post Office
FPO Fleet Post Office
FPS Feet Per Second
FRACTAL FRACTional dimensionAL
FRED Fred Resembles Emacs Deliberately
FRG Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
FROG Free Rocket Over Ground
FRPG Fantasy Role Playing Game
FRS Federal Reserve System
FSF Free Software Foundation
FSK Frequency Shift Keying
FSLIC Federal Savings and Loan
Insurance Corporation
FSS Federal Supply Service
FSW Forward Swept Wings
FT Foot
FTAM File Transfer And Management
FTC Federal Trade Commission
FTL Faster Than Light
FTP File Transfer Protocol
FTS Federal Telephone System
FUBAR F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition
FW Fringeworthy
FWD Front Wheel Drive
FWHM Full Width at Half Maximum
FX Foreign eXchange
FY Fiscal Year
FYI For Your Information

GA Gamblers Anonymous
GA General Assembly
GA General Average
GA General of the Army
GA Georgia
GAAP Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
GAN Global Area Network
GAR Grand Army of the Republic
GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GAW Guaranteed Annual Wage
GB Gangbusters
GB GigaByte
GB Great Britain
GBIP General Purpose Interface Bus
GC Garbage Collection (LISP)
GC Gas Chromatograph (or Chromatography)
GCA Ground Controlled Approach
GCC Gnu C Compiler
GCD Ground Controlled Descent
GCL Graphics Command Language
GCM General Court Martial
GCR Group-Coded Recording (magnetic tape, 6250 bpi)
GCT Greenwich Civil Time
GDB Gnu DeBugger
GE General Electric
GEM Graphics Environment Manager
GHQ General HeadQuarters
GHz Giga HertZ (unit of frequency, 1,000,000,000
cycles per second)
GI Galvanized Iron
GI Gastro Intestinal (as in upper GI)
GI General Issue
GI Government Issue
GIF Graphics Interchange Format
GIGO Garbage In Garbage Out
GIN Graphics INput
GISS Goddard Institute for Space Studies
GKS Graphical Kernel Standard
GM Game Master
GM General Manager
GM General Motors
GM Guided Missile
GMBH Gesellschaft Mit Beschraenkter Haftung
GMT Greenwich Mean Time
GNP Gross National Product
GNU GNU's Not Unix
GOES Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellites
GOSIP Government OSI Profile
GP General Practitioner
GPI Graphics Programming Interface
GPIB General-Purpose Interface Bus
GPO General Post Office
GPO Government Printing Office
GPS Global Positioning System
GQ General Quarters
GRB Gamma Ray Burst(er)
GREP Global Regular Expression Print, g/re/p,
(UNIX command)
GRO Gamma Ray Observatory
GS General Schedule
GS Glide Slope
GSA General Services Administration
GSA Girl Scouts of America
GSBCA General Services administration
Board of Contract Appeals
GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center
GSTS Ground-based Surveillance and Tracking System
GT Gross Ton
GTE General Telephone and Electric
GTSI Government Technology Services, inc.
GUI Graphical User Interface
GW Gamma World
GWEN Ground Wave Emergency Network

H Harn
H Height
HACD Home Area Customer Dialing
HAL Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic
computer (2001)
HAM Hold And Modify
HBM Her British Majesty, His British Majesty
HBO Home Box Office
HC Holy Communion
HC House of Commons
HCFA Health Care Financing Administration
HCL High Cost of Living
HD Hard Disk
HD Heavy Duty
HDA Head Disk Assembly (in winchester disk drives)
HDBV Host Data Base View
HDL High Density Lipoprotein
HDLC High-level Data Link Control (IBM network stuff)
HDTV High Definition Television
HE His Eminence, His Excellency
HEAO High Energy Astronomical Observatory
HEMP Help End Marijuana Prohibition
HERO Hazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance
HF High Fantasy
HF High Frequency (3-30MHz)
HFE Human Factors Engineering
HFS Hierarchical File System
HI Hawaii
HIIPS Hud Integrated Information Processing Services
HLL High-Level Language
HMOS High performance Metal Oxide
Semiconductor (see MOS)
HMS His/Her Majesty's Ship
HMT His/Her Majesty's Transport
HNPA Home Numbering Plan Area
HOBIS HOtel Billing Information System
HOL High-Order System
HP Hewlett Packard, inc.
HP High Pressure
HP Higher Power (sort of an AA "in"
term, usually God)
HP Hit Points
HP HorsePower
HPGe High Purity Germanium
HPL/T High-Productivity Languages/Tools
HQ HeadQuarters
HR House of Representatives
HRH Her Royal Highness
HRH His Royal Highness
HS High School
HSB Hue, Saturation, Brightness
HST Hawaiian Standard Time
HT High Tension (as in electric power transmission)
HTK Hits To Kill
HUAC House Unamerican Activities Committee
HUD Heads Up Display
HUD Housing and Urban Development
HVAC Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning
HW2000 Highway 2000
HWM High-Water Mark
Hb HemogloBin
Hz HertZ (unit of frequency, cycles per second)

I/O Input/Output
IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency
IATA International Air Transport Association
IBM International Business Machines, inc.
IC Integrated Circuit
ICB Interstate Computer Bank
ICBM InterContinental Ballistic Missile
ICE In-Circuit Emulator
ICI Imperial Chemical Industries
ICJ International Court of Justice
ICL International Computers Ltd.
ICP Integrated Channel Processor
ICP Inventory Control Points
ICRC International Cosmic Ray Conference
ID IDentification
ID Idaho
IDA Intercommunication Data Areas
IDA International Development Association
IDDD International Direct Distance Dialing
IDE Interactive Development Environments, inc
IDF Intermediate Distributing Frame
IE Indo-European
IEE Institute of Electrical Engineers (UK)
IEEE Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers
IF Intermediate Frequency (as in IF stage)
IFB Invitation For Bids
IFC International Finance Corporation
IFC International Freighting Corporation
IFF Identification, Friend or Foe
IFF Interchange File Format
IFLA International Federation of
Library Associations
IGES Initial Graphics Exchange Standard
IGY International Geophysical Year
IHP Indicated HorsePower
IHS Integrated Hospital Support
IIA Information Industry Association
IIE Institute of Industrial Engineers
IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation
IIL Integrated Injection Logic
ILO International Labor Organization
ILS Instrument Landing System
IMF International Monetary Fund
IMHO In My Humble Opinion
IMP Interface Message Processor (ARPAnet)
IMSL International Mathematical Subroutine Library
IN Indiana
INADS INitialization and ADministration System
INRA Iesus Nazerenus Rex Iudaeorum
(Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews)
INRIA Institut National de Recherche en
Informatique et Automatique
INS Immigration and Naturalization Service
INSTITUTE INSTITUTE's Name Shows That It's
Totally Unrelated To EMACS
INTAP INteroperability Technology Association for
information Processing
INWATS INward Wide Area Telephone Service
IO Input/Output (sometimes I/O)
IOD Identified Outward Dialing
IOOF International Order of Odd Fellows
IOU I Owe you (U)
IP Innings Pitched
IP Intermediate Point
IPC Inter-Process Communication
IPE Integrated Programming Environment
IPMS InterPersonal Message Services
IPS Information Processing Standards
IPSE Integrated Project-Support Environment
IQ Intelligence Quotient (see EQ)
IR Index Register
IRA Individual Retirement Account
IRA Irish Republican Army
IRAS Infrared Astronomical Satellite
IRBM Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile
IRDS Information Resource Dictionary Standard
IRDS InfraRed Detection Set
IRE Institute of Radio Engineers
(old name for the now IEEE, which see)
IRM Information Resources Management
IRMS Information Resources Management Service
IRS Internal Revenue Service
IS Information Systems
IS International Standard
ISA Industry-Standard Architecture
ISAM Indexed Sequential Access Method
ISBD International Bibliographic Description
ISC Information Services Center
ISC International Switching Center
ISCH Interstitial-Cell-Stimulating
Hormone (same as LH)
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
ISDT Integrated Systems Development Tool
ISEE International Sun Earth
Explorer (usually ISEE-3)
ISF Information Systems Factory
ISFUG Integrated Software Federal User Group
ISO International Standards Organization
ISOO Information Security Oversight Office
ISPM International Solar Polar Mission
ISR Institute of Snow Research
ISRG Independent Space Research Group
ISV Independent Software Vendor
IT Industrial Technology
IT Information Technology
ITC Inter-Task Communication
ITS Incompatible Timesharing System
ITT International Telephone and Telegraph
ITU International Telecommunications Union
ITUSA IT Users Standards Association
IUS Inertial Upper Stage

JACM Journal of the Association for

Computing Machinery
JBS John Birch Society
JC Jesus Christ
JC Joint Compound (plumbing)
JC Julius Caesar
JC Junior College
JCA Jewelry Crafts Association
JCAC Joint Civil Affairs Committee
JCAE Joint Committee on Atomic Energy
JCEE Joint Council on Economic Education
JCET Joint Council on Educational Television
JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff
JD Justice Department
JDS John Dewey Society
JES John Ericsson Society
JFK John F. Kennedy (international airport)
JFMIP Joint Financial Management
Improvement Program
JGR Journal of Geophysical Research
JI Justice, Inc.
JIC Joint Intelligence Center
JIC Just in Case
JIM Job Information Memorandum
JINTACCS Joint INteroperability of TActical
Command and Control Systems
JIS Japan Industrial Standards
JISC Japanese Industrial Standards Committee
JIT Just In Time
JMS John Milton Society
JO Job Order
JO Junior Officer
JOVE Jonathan's Own Version of Emacs
JOVIAL Jules Own Version of the International
Algorithmic Language
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JRC Junior Red Cross
JSC Johnson Space Center
JSD Jackson System Development
JSRC Joint Services Review Committee
JTIDS Joint Tactical Information
Distribution Systems
JV Junior Varsity

K&R Kernighan and Ritchie, the c programming

language
K9 canine (K9 corps, army dogs)
KB KiloByte
KC King's Counsel (QC when queen reigning)
KC Knights of Columbus
KD Kiln Dried
KD Knocked Down
KDCI Key Display Call Indicator
KERMIT Kl-10 Error-free Reciprocal Micro
Interconnect over Tty lines
KHz Kilo HertZ
(unit of frequency, 1000 cycles per second)
KI Kiwanis International
KIA Killed In Action
KIAS Knot Indicated Air Speed
KO Knock Out
KP Key Pulse
KP Kitchen Police
KPNO Kitt Peak National Observatory
KPO KeyPunch Operator
KQC King's College London
KS King's Scholar
KSC Kennedy Space Center
KSU Key Service Unit
KTS Key Telephone System
KTU Key Telephone Unit
KWIC Key Word In Context
KY Kentucky

LA Los Angeles
LA Louisiana
LA Low Altitude
LADAR LAser Detection And Ranging
LAM Master of Liberal Arts
LAMA Local Automatic Message Accounting
LAN Local Apparent Noon
LAN Local Area Network
LAR Local Acquisition Radar
LASER Light Amplification by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation
LAT Local Apparent Time
LATA Local Access Transport Area
LAX Los Angeles International Airport
LB Light Bomber
LB pound (LiBra)
LBHS Long Beach High School
LBL Lawrence Berkeley Labs
LC inductor-Capacitor circuit (as in filters,
L is symbol inductance)
LCD Liquid Crystal Display
LCD Lowest Common Denominator
LCDR Lieutenant Commander
LCM Life Cycle Management
LCT Landing Craft Tanks
LDEF Long Duration Exposure Facility
LDL Low Density Lipoprotein
LDX Long Distance eXtender
LEAP Low-power Enhanced At Portable
LED Light Emitting Diode
LEM Lunar Excursion Module
LF Low Frequency (30-300KHz)
LH Left Hand
LH Lower Half
LH Luteinizing Hormone (same as ISCH)
LHD Litterarum Humaniorum Doctor
(doctor of human letters)
LHS Left Hand Side
LI Long Island
LIFIA Laboratoire d'Informatique Fondamentale
et d'Intelligence Artificielle
LIFO Last In First Out (see FIFO)
LINC Laboratory INstrument Computer
LISP LISt Processing Language
LIU Line Interface Unit
LL Late Latin
LL Long Lines
LLAMA Logic Lacking A Meaningful Acronym
LLB Legum Baccalaureus (bachelor of laws)
LLD Legum doctor (doctor of laws)
LLN Line Link Network
LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories
LLP Line Link Pulsing
LM Life Master (Contract Bridge ranking)
LM Lunar Module
LMC Large Magellanic Cloud (see SMC)
LMOS Line Maintenance Operations System
LNG Liquified Natural Gas
LOA Lands of Adventure
LOOPS Lisp Object Oriented Programming System
LOP Lines Of Position
LOTS Low Overhead Timesharing System
LP Long Playing record
LP Low Pressure
LPC Linear Predictive Coding (speech processing)
LPDA Link Problem Determination Aid
LPF League for Programming Freedom
LPG Liquified Petroleum Gas
LPG Low Pressure Gas
LPN Licensed Practical Nurse
LPP Licensed Program Products
LPR Line PrinteR
LRBM Long Range Ballistic Missile
LRC Longitudinal Redundancy Character
LRU Line Replaceable Unit
LS Left Side
LS Letter Signed
LS Locus Sigilli (place of seal)
LSB Least Significant Bit, Least Significant Byte
LSC LightSpeed C
LSD Least Significant Digit
LSD LySergic acid Diethylamide
LSD pounds (Libra), shillings (Sestertii),
and (old) pence (Denarii)
LSI Large Scale Integration
LSP LightSpeed Pascal
LSS Life Support System
LSS Loop Switching System
LSSD Level-Sensitive Scan Detection
LT Long Ton
LT Low Tension
LTC Lieutenant Colonel
LTJG Lieutenant Junior Grade
LTL Less than Truckload Lot
LUG Local Users Group
LUT Look-Up Table
LWM Low-Water Mark
LZ Landing Zone

M Miniatures
MA Massachusetts
MAAP Maintenance And Administration Panel
MAC Military Air Command
MACSYMA project MAC's SYmbolic MAnipulation System
MAD Mutual Assured Destruction
MADD Mothers Against Drunk Driving
MAG Magazine
MAN Metropolitan Area Network
MAP Manufacturing Automation Protocol
MARBI MAchine Readable form of
Bibliographic Information
MARC MAchine Readable card Catalog
MARS Multiuser Archival and Retrieval System
MASC Multiple Award Schedule Contract
MASER Microwave Amplification by Stimulated
 Emission of Radiation
MASH Mobile Army Surgical Hospital
MAST Multi-Application SOnar Trainer
MAT-CALS Marine Air Traffic-Control
And Landing System
MAU Math Acceleration Unit
MB MegaByte
MBA Master Business Administration
MC Master of Ceremonies
MCA Micro Channel Architecture
MCAE Mechanical Computer Aided Engineering
MCC Master Control Console
MCC Microelectronics and Computer
technology Corporation
MCP Master Control Program
MCP/AS Master Control Program/Advanced System
MCPO Master Chief Petty Officer
MD Maryland
MD Medical Doctor
MD Months after Date
MDAS Magnetic Drum Auxiliary Sender
MDE Modular Design Environment
MDF Main Distribution Frame
MDT Mean Down Time
ME Maine
ME Mechanical Engineer
MERP Middle-Earth Role Playing
MEd Master of EDucation
MF Medium Frequency (300-3000KHz)
MF Middle French
MF Multi-Frequency
MFA Master Fine Arts
MFLOPS Million FLoating-point OPerations
per Second
MFM Modified Frequency Modulation
MFS Macintosh File System
MG Machine Gun
MG Major General
MG Military Government
MGH Massachusetts General Hospital
MGM Metro-Goldwyn Mayer
MHD MagnetoHydroDynamics
MHz Mega HertZ (unit of frequency,
1,000,000 cycles per second)
MI Michigan
MI Military Intelligence
MIA Missing In Action
MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIFASS Marine Integrated Fire And Support System
MILNET MILitary NETwork
MIM Morality In Media
MIMD Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data
MINCE MINCE Is Not Complete Emacs
MIPS Million Instructions Per Second
MIRV Multiple Independently-Targetable
Reentry Vehicle
MIS Management Information Systems
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ML Middle Latin
MLA Member of Legislative Assembly (see MPP)
MLD Minimum Lethal Dose
MLS Microwave Landing System
MLS Multi-Level Security
MM Maryknoll Missioners
MMES Martin Marietta Energy Systems
MMFS Manufacturing Message Format Standard
MMM see 3M
MMU Memory Management Unit
MN Minnesota
MNA Member of National Assembly (Quebec)
MNP Microcom Networking Protocol
MO Mail Order
MO Medical Officer
MO Missouri
MO Modus Operandi
MO Money Order
MOR Middle-Of-the-Road
MOS Metal Oxide Semiconductor
MOSFET Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field
Effect Transistor
MOTIS Message-Oriented Text Interchange System
MOU Memorandum Of Understanding
MOUSE Minimum Orbital Unmanned Satellite of Earth
MP Melting Point
MP Member of Parliament
MP Metropolitan Police
MP Military Police(man)
MPG Miles Per Gallon
MPH Miles Per Hour
MPP Member of Provincial
Parliament (Canada, also MLA)
MPW Macintosh Programmer's Workshop
MR Miniatures Rules
MRP Manufacturing Requirements Planning
MS ManuScript
MS Master of Science
MS Military Science
MS Motor Ship
MS Multiple Sclerosis
MS-DOS MicroSoft DOS
MSB Most Significant Bit or Most
Significant Byte
MSC MicroSoft C
MSCP Mass Storage Control Protocol
MSD Most Significant Digit
MSE Mobile Subscriber Equipment
MSG MonoSodium Glutamate
MSH Marvel Super Heroes
MSL Mean Sea Level
MSPE Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes
MSS Management Support System
MSS ManuScriptS
MSS Mass Storage System
MST Mountain Standard Time
MT Metric Ton
MT Mountain Time
MTA Message Transfer Agent
MTA Metropolitan Transportation Authority
MTBF Mean Time Between Failures
MTR Magnetic Tape Recording
MTSO Mobile Telephone Switching Office
MTTF Mean Time To Failure
MTV Music TeleVision
MUF Maximum Usable Frequency
(max freq during sunspot activity)
MULTICS MULTiplex Information Computer Services
MUMPS Mgh Utility MultiProgram System
MUNG Mung Until No Good (see the
hacker's dictionary)
MUX MUltipleXor
MVA MegaVolt Ampere
MX Missile eXperimental
MeV Million Electron Volts

N North
N Notice
NA Narcotics Anonymous
NA North America
NA Not Applicable
NAACP National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People
NAAS North American Automated Systems co.
NAB National Association of Broadcasters
NABISCO NAtional BIScuit COmpany
NACS National Advisory Committee
on Semiconductors
NAD Network Access Device
NADGE NATO Air Defense Ground Environment
NAG Numerical Algorithms Group
NAGE National Association of
Government Employees
NAK Negative AcKnowledge
NAPAP National Acid Precipitation
Assessment Program
NAR Nuclear Acoustic Resonance
NARDAC NAvy Regional Data Automation Center
NAS National Academy of Sciences
NAS National Advanced Systems
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA/GSFC NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NAVDAC NAVal Data Automation Command
NAVSWC NAV Surface Weapons Center
NB New Brunswick
NB Nota Bene
NBA National Basketball Association
NBC National Broadcasting Company
NBFM NarrowBand Frequency Modulation
NBO Network Build Out
NBS National Bureau of Standards
NBVM Narrow Band Voice Modulation
NC No Charge
NC North Carolina
NCA Network Control Analysis
NCC National Computer Conference
NCDC National Climatic Data Center
NCE New Catholic Edition
NCGA National Computer Graphics Association
NCIC National Cartographic Information Center
NCO Non-Commissioned Officer
NCP Network Control Program
NCR National Cash Register
NCS Network Computing System
NCSA National Center for Supercomputing Applications
NCSC National Computer Security Center
NCTL National Computer and
Telecommunications Laboratory
NCV No Commercial Value
ND No Date
ND North Dakota
NDA Non-Disclosure Agreement
NDDL Neutral Data Definition Language
NDE News Development Environment
NDEA National Defense Education Act
NDL Network Database Language
NDP New Democratic Party (Canada)
NDSL National Direct Student Loan
NDT Newfoundland Daylight Time
NE New England
NE North East
NEAR National Electronic Accounting and
Reporting system
NEB New English Bible
NEC Nippon Electric Company
NEI Not Elsewhere Included
NES National Energy Strategy
NES Not Elsewhere Specified
NESC National Energy Software Center
NET NETwork
NET National Educational Television
NEWS Network extensible Window System
NEXRAD NEXt generation weather RADar
NF No Funds
NFC National Football Conference
NFFE National Federation of Federal Employees
NFL National Football League
NFS Network File System
NG National Guard
NG No Good
NH New Hampshire
NHI National Health Insurance
NHL National Hockey League (the "nation" is
Canada, BTW)
NIC Network Information Center (ARPAnet)
NIH National Institutes of Health
NIH Not Invented Here
NIM Nuclear Instrumentation Module
(an electronic instr. standard)
NIMH National Institute of Mental Health
NIS Network Information System (formerly yp)
NISO National Information Standards Organization
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
(formerly NBS)
NJ New Jersey
NL National League (baseball)
NLM National Library of Medicine
NLP Natural Language Processing
NLRB National Labor Relations Board
NLS Network License Server
NM Nautical Mile
NM New Mexico
NM Night Message
NM No Mark, Not Marked
NMOS N channel Metal Oxide
Semiconductor (N-MOS)(see MOS)
NMR Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
NNE North North East
NNTP Net News Transfer Protocol
NNW North North West
NOA NSWC Office Automation
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NORAD NORth American Defense Command
NORML National Organization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
NOS Not Otherwise Specified
NOSC Naval Ocean Systems Center
NOTIS Network Operator Trouble Information System
NP No Protest
NP Nondeterministic-Polynomial
NP Notary Public
NP Noun Phrase
NPA Number Plan Area
NPC Non-Player Character (see PC)
NPL Non-Procedural Language
NPN Negative-Positive-Negative (transistor)
NPN NonProtein Nitrogen
NPR National Public Radio
NQS Network Queuing System
NRA National Rifle Association
NRC National Research Council
NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission
NRE Non-Recurring Engineering (as in NRE costs)
NRL Naval Research Labs
NRO National Reconnaissance Office
NRZ Non-Return to Zero
NRZI Non-Return to Zero Indicates
NRZI Non-Return to Zero Inverted (magnetic tape,
 800 bpi)
NS Not Specified
NS Nova Scotia
NS Nuclear Ship
NSA National Security Agency
NSC National Security Council
NSE Network Software Environment
NSF National Science Foundation
NST Newfoundland Standard Time
NSW New South Wales
NSWC Naval Surface Warfare Center
NSWC Naval Surface Weapons Center
NT New Testament
NT Newfoundland Time
NT Northern Territory
NTEU National Treasury Employees Union
NTIS National Technical Information Service
NTN Neutralized Twisted Nematic
NTP Normal Temperature and Pressure (see STP)
NTSB National Transportation Safety Board
NTSC National Television Standards Committee
NTSC Never The Same Color
NTT Nippon Telephone & Telegraph
NU Name Unknown
NURBS NonUniform Rational B-Spline
NUSC Naval Underwater Systems Command
NV Nevada
NW North West
NWS National Weather Service
NWT North West Territories
NY New York
NYC New York City
NYSE New York Stock Exchange
NZ New Zealand
NZUSUGI New Zealand Unix System User Group, Inc.

OA Office Automation
OA Overeaters Anonymous
OAS Organization of American States
OATS Office Automation Technology and Services
OBE Order of the British Empire
OBS Omni Bearing Selector
OC Order of Canada
OCDM Office of Civil Defense and Mobilization
OCI Out of City Indicator
OCLC Online Computer Library Center
(Ohio College Library Catalog)
OCO Object Code Only
OCR Optical Character Recognition
OCS Officer Candidate School
OD Doctor of Optometry
OD Oculus Dexter (right eye)
OD Officer of the Day
OD OverDose
ODI Optical Digital Image
ODISS Optical Digital Image Storage System
OE Old English
OED Oxford English Dictionary
OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer
OEO Office of Economic Opportunity
OES Order of the Eastern Star
OF Old French
OFM Order of Friars Minor
OFS Order of Free State
OG Original Gum
OH Ohio
OIRA Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
OIU Office Interface Unit
OJT On the Job Training
OLTP On-Line Transaction Processing
OMB Office of Management and Budget
OMD Orchestral Manouevers in the Dark
OMV Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle
ON Old Norse
ONC Open Network Computing
ONI Office of Naval Intelligence
ONI Operator Number Identification
ONR Office of Naval Research
OOP Object Oriented Programming
OOPART Out Of Place ARTifact
OOPS Object-Oriented Programming System
OP OFFICEPOWER office automation system,
trademark of CCI
OP Observation Post
OP Order of Preachers
OP Out of Print
OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
OPM Office of Personnel Management
OR Operating Room
OR Oregon
OR Owner's Risk, Own Risk
ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory
OROM Optical Read Only Memory
OS Oculus Sinister (left eye)
OS Operating System
OS Ordinary Seaman
OS Out of Stock
OSB Order of St. Benedict
OSCAR Orbiting Satellite Carry Amateur Radio
(1st launched 12 Dec 1961)
OSCRL Operating System Command Response Language
OSD Office of the Secretary of Defense
OSDIT Office of Software Development and
Information Technology
OSF Open Software Foundation
OSF Order of St. Francis
OSI Open Systems Interconnection
OSI/RM Open Systems Interconnection/Reference Model
OSME Open Systems Message Exchange
OSP Optical Storage Processor
OSS Office Support System
OSS Office of Strategic Services (later CIA)
OSS Operation Support System
OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy
OT Old Testament
OT OverTime
OT&LF Open Taxi & Limousine Foundation
OTA Office of Technical Assistance
OTA Office of Technology Assessment
OTB Off-Track Betting
OTC Over The Counter (stocks)
OTF Open Token Foundation
OTH-B Over The Horizon, Backscatter (as in radar)
OTR On The Rag
OTS Officers' Training School
OUTWATS OUTward Wide Area Telephone Service

PQ

PA Pennsylvania
PA Per Annum
PA Play Aid
PA Power of Attorney
PA Press Agent
PA Private Account
PA Public Address
PA Purchasing Agent
PABX Private Automatic Branch eXchange
PAD Packet Assembler-Disassembler (for networking)
PAL Phase Alternation Line-rate
PAL Programmable Array Logic
PAM Pulse Amplification Modulation
PARC Palo Alto Research Center, xerox
PATROL Program for Administrative Traffic
Reports On Line
PBM Play By Mail game
PBS Public Broadcasting System
PBX Private Branch eXchange (mini-telephone
network system)
PC Peace Corps
PC PerCent, PerCentage
PC Personal Computer
PC Player Character (see NPC)
PC Post Card
PC Post Cibum (after meals)
PC Privileged Character
PC Privy Council
PC Program Counter
PC Progressive Conservative party (Canada)
PC-DOS Personal Computer DOS
PC/AT Personal Computer/Advanced Technology
PCB PolyChlorinated Biphenyls
PCB Printed Circuit Board
PCI Panel Call Indicator
PCIE President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency
PCL Printer Command Language
PCM Plug-Compatible Mainframe
PCM Pulse Code Modulation
PCPC Personal Computers Peripheral Corporation
PCS Permanent Change of Station
PCTE Portable Common Tools Environment
PCTS Posix Conformance Test Suite
PD Per Diem
PD Police Department
PD Potential Difference
PD Public Domain
PDAD Proposed Draft ADdendum
PDE Partial Differential Equation
PDES Product Data Exchange Specifications
PDF Program Development Facility
PDL Page Description Language
PDL Program Design Language
PDP Plasma Display Panel
PDP Programmed Data Processor
PDQ Pretty Damned Quick
PDT Pacific Daylight Time
PE Phase Encoded
PE Physical Education
PE Prince Edward island
PE Printer's Error
PE Professional Engineer
PE Protestant Episcopal
PEI Prince Edward Island
PEP Productivity Enhancement Project
PEPE Pepe Est Presque Emacs
PERL Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister
PERL Practical Extraction and Report Language
PEX Phigs/phigs+ Extension to X
PGA Professional Graphics Adapter
PGA Pure Grain Alcohol
PHA Pulse Height Analyzer (or Analysis)
PHIGS Programmers Hierarchical Interactive
Graphics System
PHS Public Health Service
PIF Paid In Full
PIT Principal, Interest, and Taxes
PIXEL PIcture ELement
PLA Programmable Logic Array
PLC Programmable Logic Controller
PLCC Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier
PLL Phase-Locked Loop
PLM Programming Language for Microcomputers
PLO Please Leave On
PM PayMaster
PM Police Magistrate
PM Post Meridiem
PM PostMaster
PM PostMortem
PM Preventive Maintenance
PM Prime Minister
PM Provost Marshal
PM/X Presentation Manager for X windows
PMO Prime Minister's Office
PMOS P channel Metal Oxide
Semiconductor (P-MOS) (see MOS)
PMT PhotoMultiplier Tube
PN Promissory Note
PNP Positive-Negative-Positive (transistor)
PO PettyOfficer
PO Post Office
PO Postal Order
PO Purchase Order
POC Port Of Call
POD Pay On Delivery
POE Port Of Embarkation
POE Port Of Entry
POGO Polar Orbiting Geophysical Observatory
POM Phase Of Moon
POPS Paperless Order Processing System
POR Price On Request
POS Point Of Sale
POSI Promoting conference for OSI
POSIX Portable Operating System for unIX
POV Point Of View
POW Prisoner Of War
PP Parcel Post
PP Past Participle
PP Primary Point (or dial Post Pay payphone)
PPB Parts Per Billion
PPC Pour Prendre Conge' (to take leave)
PPCS Person to Person, Collect, Special
PPM Parts Per Million
PPN Parameterized Post-Newtonian formalism
for general relativity
PPN Project Programmer Number
PPS PostPostScriptum
PPT Pulse Pair Timing
PQ Province of Quebec
PR PayRoll
PR Public Relations
PR Puerto Rico
PRC Planning Research Corporation
PROFS PRofessional OFfice System
PROM Programmable Read Only Memory
PS PicoSecond
PS PostScript
PS PostScriptum
PS Power Steering
PS Power Supply
PS Public School
PSA Problem Statement Analyzer
PSC Polar Stratospheric Clouds
PSDS Public Switched Digital Service
PSE Programming Support Environment
PSG Platoon SerGeant
PSK Phase Shift Keying
PSL Problem Statement Language
PSR "Product Specific Realizations
PST Pacific Standard Time
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
PhysRev Physical Review Journal (Phys Rev)
PT Pacific Time
PT Patrol Torpedo (as in PT boat)
PT Physical Therapy
PT Physical Training
PTA Parent-Teacher Association
PTD Parallel Transfer Disk
PTO Patent and Trademark Office
PTO Please Turn Over
PTO Power Take-Off
PVO Pioneer Venus Orbiter
PW Prisoner of War (usually POW)
PWG Permanent Working Group
PX Post eXchange (see BX)

QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

QC Quality Control
QC Queen's Counsel
QD Quaque Die (daily)
QDA Quantity Discount Agreement
QED Quod Erat Demonstrandum (which was
to be demonstrated)
QEF Quod Erat Faciendum (which was to be done)
QEI Quod Erat Inveniendum (which was
to be found out)
QET Quantum Effect Transistor
QIC Quarter-Inch Cartridge
QID Quater In Die (four times a day)
QLI Query Language Interpreter
QM QuarterMaster
QMC QuarterMaster Corps
QMF Query Management Facility
QMG QuarterMaster General
QMS Quality Micro Systems
QNS Quantity Not Sufficient
QWERTY first six keys from left on top alphabetic
row of standard keyboard

R Rolemaster
R&B Rhythm and Blues (commonly R and B)
R&D Research and Development (commonly R and D)
RA Regular Army
RA Research Assistant
RA Royal Academy
RAAF Royal Australian Air Force
RACE Random Access Card Equipment
RACEP Random Access and Correlation for
Extended Performance
RAD Radiation Absorbed Dose
RAD Rapid Access Disk
RADAR RAdio Detection And Ranging
RADM Rear ADMiral
RAF Royal Air Force
RAM Random Access Memory
RARDE Royal Armaments Research and
Development Establishment
RAS Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability
RASC Residence Account Service Center
RBC Red Blood Count
RBI Runs Batted In
RBOC Regional Bell Operating Company
RC Red Cross
RC Regional Center
RC Resistor-Capacitor circuit (as in filters)
RC Roman Catholic
RCA Radio Corporation of America
RCAF Royal Canadian Air Force
RCAS Reserve Component Automation System
RCC Radio Common Carrier
RCMP Royal Canadian Mounted Police
RD Rural Delivery
RDA Remote Data Access
RDBMS Relational DataBase Management System
RDF Radio Direction Finding
REA Rail Express Agency
REM Rapid Eye Movement
REO R. E. Olds
REO Removable, Erasable, Optical
REXX Restructured EXtended eXecutor
RF Radio Frequency
RFC Request For Comments
RFD Rural Free Delivery
RFI Radio Frequency Interference
RFP Request For Proposals
RFS Remote File System
RGB Red Green Blue
RGP Raster Graphics Processor
RH Right Hand
RHS Right Hand Side
RI Rhode Island
RIACS Research Institute for Advanced
Computer Science (NASA)
RIAS Radio In the American Sector, berlin
RIF Reading Is Fundamental
RIF Reduction In Force
RILM Repertoire International de
Literature Musicale
RIP Rest In Peace (or Requiescat In Pace : latin)
RISC Reduced Instruction Set Computer
RITA Recognition of Information Technology
Achievement award
RJE Remote Job Entry
RLC Resistor Inductor Capacitor
RLL Run Length Limited
RMATS Remote Maintenance Administration and
Traffic System
RMS Root Mean Square
RMS Royal Mail Ship
RN Registered Nurse
RN Royal Navy
RNA RiboNucleic Acid
RNZAF Royal New Zealand Air Force
ROFF Run-OFF
ROG Receipt Of Goods
ROM Range Of Motion
ROM Read Only Memory
ROM Rupture Of Membrane (as in birth)
ROTC Reserve Officers' Training Corps
ROTS Rotary Out Trunks Selectors
ROYGBIV Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue,
Indigo, Violet (ROY G. BIV)
RPC Remote Procedure Call
RPG RePort Generator
RPG Role Playing Game
RPM Revolutions Per Minute
RPN Reverse Polish Notation
RPO Railway Post Office
RPS Revolutions Per Second
RPV Remotely Piloted Vehicle
RQ RuneQuest
RR RailRoad
RR Route Relay
RR Rural Route
RRO Rate and Route Operator
RS Recording Secretary
RS Revised Status
RS Right Side
RS Royal Society
RSFSR Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic
RSN Real Soon Now
RSU Remote Switching Unit
RSV Revised Standard Edition
RSVP Repondez S'il Vous Plait (please reply)
RSWC Right Side up With Care
RT RadioTelephone
RT RealTime
RTA Remote Trunk Arrangement
RTAC Regional Technical Assistance Center
RTF Rich Text Format
RTFM Read The F***ing Manual
RTG Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
RTR Reel-To-Reel
RTTY Radio Teletype
RU Receive Unit
RW Right Worshipful
RW Right Worthy
S

S South
S Supplement
S&C Skull & Crossbones
SA Salvation Army
SA Seaman Apprentice
SA Service Assistant
SA Sex Appeal
SA Sine Anno (without date)
SA South Africa
SA South America
SA Subject to Approval
SAA South Atlantic Anomaly
SAA Systems Application Architecture
SAC Special Area Code
SAC Strategic Air Command (see TAC)
SADD Students Against Drunk Driving
SAM Surface-to-Air Missile
SAMA Step-by-step Automatic Message Accounting
SAMTO Space And Missile Test Organization
SAP Second Audio Program
SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar
SARTS Switched Access Remote Test System
SASE Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope
SASI Shugart Associates Systems Interface
SAW Surface Acoustic Wave
SBA Small Business Administration
SC Sectional Center
SC South Carolina
SC SubCommittee
SCAD Subsonic Cruise Armed Decoy
SCADC Standard Central Air Data Computer
SCAME SCreen oriented Anti-Misery Editor
SCAMP Single-Chip A-series Mainframe Processor
SCAN Switched Circuit Automatic Network
SCC Switching Control Center (or Specialized
Common Carriers)
SCCS Source Code Control System
SCE Signal Conversion Equipment
SCE Structure Chart Editor
SCI SpaceCraft Incorporated
SCIFI SCIence FIction (often used pejoratively
of what really isn't)
SCO Santa Cruz Operation
SCOOPS SCheme Object Oriented Programming System
SCOTS Surveilance and Control Of
Transmission Systems
SCSI Small Computer Systems Interface
SCUBA Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
SCUD Subsonic Cruise Unarmed Decoy
SD South Dakota
SDI Standard Disk Interconnect
SDI Strategic Defense Initiative
SDLC Synchronous Data Link Control
SDO Staff Duty Officer
SE South East
SEATO SouthEast Asia Treaty Organization
SEC Security Exchange Commission
SECNAV SECretary of the NAVy
SED Stream EDitor
SEI Software Engineering
Institute (Carnegie Mellon)
SEL Software Engineering Laboratory
SEM Scanning Electron Microscope
SF San Francisco
SF Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction
SF Standard Form
SF Star Frontiers
SFRPG Science Fiction Role Playing Game
SG StarGuard
SG SubGroup
SGML Standard Generalized Markup Language
SHAPE Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
SHAR SHell ARchiver
SHCD Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
SHF Super High Frequency (3-30GHz)
SHRPG Super Hero Role Playing Game
SI Staten Island
SIAM Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
SIG Special Interest Group
SIGCAT Special Interest Group for Cd-rom
Applications Technology
SIMD Single Instruction, Multiple Data
SIMM Single In-line Memory Module
SIMM System Integrated Memory Module
SINE SINE is not EINE
SIPS Satellite Imagery Processing System
SIS Strategic Information System
SISCOM Satellite Information System COMpany
SITA Societe Internationale Telecommunications
Aeronautiques
SJ Society of Jesus
SL Salvage Loss
SLA Special Libraries Association
SLA Synchronous Line Adapter
SLAN Sine Loco, Anno, (vel) Nomine
(without place, year, or name)
SLAR Side Looking Airborne Radar
SLBM Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles
SLDC Synchronous Data Link Control
SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol
SLP Super Long Play (VHS VCR)
SM Service Mark
SMA Sergeant Major of the Army
SMA Spectrum Manufacturers Association
SMC Small Magellanic Cloud (see LMC)
SMD Storage Module Device (interface standard
for disk drives)
SMD Surface Mounted Devices
SMEGMA Sophisticated Modern Editor with Gloriously
 Magnificent Abilities
SMERSH Abbr. of Russian phrase
meaning "Death to the spies."
SMILS Sonobuoy Missile Impact Location System
SMM Solar Maximum Mission
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SN Super Nova
SNA Systems Network Architecture (IBM network)
SNADS SNA Distribution Services
SNAFU Situation Normal-- All Fouled Up (also, F*cked)
SNAP Shipboard Non-tactical Automated data
Processing program
SNCF Societe National des Chemins de Fer
(French National Railways)
SNF Server-Natural Format
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
SNOBOL StriNg Oriented symbOLic Language
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
SO Seller's Option
SO Significant Other
SO Space Opera
SO Strike Out
SOAP Symbolic Optimizing Assembler Program
SOH Start Of Header, ASCII control
character (dec=01,control-A)
SOHIO Standard Oil of oHIO
SOL Short on Landing
(or, colloquially, Sh*t Out of Luck)
SONAR SOund Detection And Ranging
SOP Standard Operating Procedure
SOS Silicon On Sapphire
SP Shore Patrol
SP Short Play (VHS VCR)
SP Southern Pacific
SP Stack Pointer
SP Star Patrol
SPA Software Publishers Association
SPAG Standards Promotion and Applications Group
SPAR Stock Points Adp Replacement
SPARC Scalable Processor ARChitecture
SPARC Standards, Planning, And
Requirements Committee
SPAWAR naval SPAce and WARfare command
SPC Software Productivity Consortium
SPCA Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals
SPCC Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children
SPEC Systems Performance Evaluation Cooperative
SPITBOL SPeedy ImplemenTation of snoBOL
SPNI Society for the Protection of
Nature in Israel
SPUR Systech Pluraxial Unplug Repeater
SQL Structured Query Language
SQUID Superconducting QUantum Interference Device
SRAM Short Range Attack Missile
SRAM Static RAM
SRB Solid fuel Rocket Booster
SRI Stanford Research Institute
SRO Standing Room Only
SSA Social Security Administration
SSB Single Side Band
SSE South-SouthEast
SSFF Showcase Software Factory of the Future
SSG Staff SerGeant
SSI Small Scale Integration
SSI Supplemental Security Income
SSR Secondary Surveillance Radar
SSR Soviet Socialist Republic
SSTV Slow Scan TeleVision
SSW South-SouthWest
ST Short Ton
STARS Software Technology for Adaptable,
Reliable Systems
STD Sacrae Theologiae Doctor (doctor of sacred
theology)
STD Sexually Transmitted Disease (replaces VD)
STD State Transition Diagram
STD Subscriber Trunk Dialing (British for DDD)
STILO Scientific and Technical Intelligence
Liaison Office
STL St. Louis (airport designation)
STN SuperTwisted Nematic
STOL Short TakeOff and Landing
STP Software Through Pictures
STP Standard Temperature and Pressure (see NTP)
STRPG Star Trek: The Role-Playing Game
STV Single Transferable Vote
SUM Symantec Utilities for Macintosh
SUNOCO SUN Oil COmpany
SUNY State University of New York
SVID System V Interface Definition
SW South West
SW SuperWorld
SWIFT Society for Worldwide Interbank
Financial Communications
SWS Scientific Workstation Support

T Traveler
T&T Tunnels & Trolls
TA Teaching Assistant
TAC Tactical Air Command (see SAC)
TAC Terminal Access Controller
TACCS Tactical Army Combat service support
Computer System
TAE Transportable Applications Environment
TAR Tape ARchiver
TB TuBerculosis
TBA To Be Announced
TBD To Be Determined
TC Teachers College
TCA Terminal Controlled Airspace
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TCSEC Trusted Computer System Evaluation
Criteria (orange book)
TCT To Challenge Tomorrow
TD TouchDown
TD Treasury Department
TDCC Transportation Data Coordinating Committee
TDE Transition Diagram Editor
TDI Trusted Database Interpretation
TDY Temporary DutY
TECO Tape Editor and COrrector
TECO Text Editor and COrrector
TEFLON polyTEtraFLuOrethyleNe
TFP Tops Filing Protocol
TFS Translucent File System
TFT The Fantasy Trip
TFT Thin Film Transistor
TG Thieves' Guild
THIEF THief Isn't Even Fine
THIEF This Here Isn't Even Fine
THOR Tandy High-intensity Optical Recording
TI Texas Instruments
TIA Thanks In Advance (special to USENET)
TIA Transient Ischemic Attack
TIC TermInfo Compiler
TID Ter In Die (three times a day)
TIFF Tag Image File Format
TKO Technical Knock Out
TL Total Loss
TLA Three Letter Acronym
TLC Tender Loving Care
TLI Transort-Level Interface
TM TradeMark
TMA Tycho Magnetic Anomaly (2001)
TMAC Treasury department's Multiuser
Acquisition Contract
TMIS Telecommunications Management Information System
TMO Telephone Money Order
TMP The Morrow Project
TN Tennessee
TN Twisted Nematic
TNT TriNitro Toluene
TO Telegraph Office
TO Turn Over
TODS Transactions on Database Systems (ACM)
TOMS Transactions on Mathematical Software (ACM)
TOOIS Transactions on Office
Information Systems (ACM)
TOP Technical/Office Protocol
TOPLAS Transactions on Programming Languages
and Systems (ACM)
TORES Text ORiented Editing System
TOW Tube launched, Optically tracked,
and Wire guided
TP Transaction Processing
TPC The Phone Company
(from classic movie: The President's Analyst)
TPI Tracks Per Inch
TPO Traveling Post Office
TPS Technical Publishing Software
TPS TeleProcessing Services
TROFF Text RunOFF, text formatter
TRUSIX TRUSted unIX
TRW Thompson, Ramo, and Woolridge
TS Top Secret
TSD Total System Design
TSP Teleprocessing Services Program
TSP Thrift Savings Plan
TSP Time Synchronization Protocol
TSP TriSodium Phosphate
TSR TSR (Fortune 500 Company that
manufactures Dungeons & Dragons)
TTFN Tah Tah, For Now
TTL Transistor Transistor Logic
TTMA Tennessee Tech Microcomputer Association
TTU Tennessee Technological University
TTY TeleTYpe
TUNIS Toronto UNIversity System
TV TeleVision
TVA Tennessee Valley Authority
TW Thieves' World
TWA Trans World Airlines
TWIMC To Whom It May Concern
TWT Traveling Wave Tube
TWX TeletypeWriter eXchange
TX Texas

U Universe
UA United Artists
UAR United Arab Republic
UAR User Action Routine
UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter
UBA UniBus Adapter
UBC Universal Bibliographic Control
UCB University of California at Berkeley
UCD University of California at Davis
UCI University of California at Irvine
UCLA University of California at Los Angeles
UCR University of California at Riverside
UCSB University of California at Santa Barbara
UCSC University of California at Santa Cruz
UCSD University of California at San Diego
UCSF University of California at San Francisco
UDB Unified DataBase
UDP User Data Protocol
UEC User Environment Component
UFO Unidentified Flying Object
UH Upper Half
UHF Ultra High Frequency (300-3000MHz)
UIMS User Interface Management System
UK United Kingdom
UL Underwriters Laboratory
ULANA Unified Local-Area Network Architecture
UMT Universal Military Training
UN United Nations
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific,
& Cultural Organization
UNICEF United Nations International
Children's (Emergency) Fund
UNICS UNiplex Information Computer Services
UNIX Not an acronym at all. Was a joke
on MIT's MULTICS.
UNO United Nations Organization
UP Union Pacific
UPC Universal Product Code
UPI United Press International
UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply
UPS United Parcel Service
UR University of Rochester
USA Union of South Africa
USA United States Army
USA United States of America
USAF United States Air Force
USAFA United States Air Force Academy
(in Colorado Springs)
USC University of Southern California
USCG United States Coast Guard
USDA United States Department of Agriculture
USES United States Employment Service
USFL United States Football League
USGS United States Geological Survey
USIA United States Information Agency
USM United States Mail
USMC United States Marine Corps
USN United States Navy
USO United Service Organizations
USO Unix Software Operation
USP United States Pharmacopeia
USPS United States Postal Service
USR User Service Routines
USS United States Ship
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
USSS User Services and Systems Support
USW Und So Weiter
UT UTah
UT Universal Time
UT University of Tennessee
UT University of Texas
UTC Universal Coordinated Time
UUCP Unix-to-Unix CoPy
UUG Unix User Group
UV UltraViolet
UW UnderWriter
UW Univ of Wisconsin

V&V Villains & Vigilantes

VA Veterans Administration
VA Virginia
VAN Value Added Network (e.g. Tymnet, Telenet, etc)
VANS Value-Added Network Services
VAR Value Added Remarketer (reseller)
VASI Visual Approach Slope Indicator
VAT Value Added Tax
VAX Virtual Address eXtended
VAXBI VAX Bus Interconnect
VCM Voice Coil Motor
VCO Voltage Controlled Oscillator
VCR VideoCassette Recorder
VCU Virginia Commonwealth University
VD Venereal Disease (see also STD)
VDFM Virtual Disk File Manager
VDI Virtual Device Interface
VDM Vienna Development Method
VDM Virtual Device Metafile
VDT Video Display Terminal
VF Video Frequency
VFO Variable Frequency Oscillator
VFW Volunteer Fire Department
VG Very Good
VG Vicar-General
VGA Video Graphics Array
VHDL Vhsic Hardware Description Language
VHF Very High Frequency (30-300MHz)
VHS Video Home System (VCR)
VHSIC Very High Speed Integrated Circuit
VI VIsual editor
VIABLEVertical Installation Automation BaseLinE
VILE VI Like Emacs
VINE Vine Is Not Emacs
VIP Very Important Person
VISTA Volunteers In Service To America
VITA Vme International Trade Association
VJ Video Jockey
VL Vulgar Latin
VLA Very Large Array radio telescope in
Arizona or New Mexico
VLF Very Low Frequency (3-30KHz)
VLIW Very Long Instruction Word
VLSI Very Large Scale Integration
VM Virtual Memory
VM/CMS Virtual Machine/Conversational Monitor System
VMM Virtual Memory Manager
VMOS Vertical Metal Oxide
Semiconductor (V-MOS)(see MOS)
VMR Vertical Market Reseller
VMS Vertical Motion Simulator
VMS Virtual Memory System
VOA Voice Of America
VOIS Voice-Operated Information System
VOQ Visiting Officer's Quarters
VPI&SU Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University
VRC Vertical Redundancy Character
VRM Virtual Resource Manager
VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal, satellite dish
VSX X/open Verification Suite
VTAM Virtual Telecommunications Access Method
VTOC Volume Table Of Contents
VTOL Vertical TakeOff and Landing
VTR VideoTape Recorder
VUP Vax Unit of Performance
VVSS Vertical Volute Spring Suspension

W West
W Width
WA Washington
WA Western Australia
WAC Womens Air Corps
WAN Wide Area Network
WARC World Administrative Conference
WATS Wide Area Telephone Service
WB Water Ballast
WB WayBill
WBC White Blood Cells
WC Water Closet
WC Without Charge
WCTU Women's Christian Temperance Union
WG Working Group
WH WarHammer
WHBL World Home Bible League
WI Wisconsin
WIS WWMCCS Information System
WITS Washington Interagency Telecommunications System
WMSCR Weather Message Switching Center Replacement
WOPR War Operations Planned Response
(from "Wargames" movie)
WORM Write Once, Read Many time
WOW Worlds of Wonder
WP Word Processing
WP Working Paper
WSI Wafer Scale Integration
WSW West-SouthWest
WU Washington University
WV West Virginia
WW World War
WWI World War I
WWII World War II
WWMCCS World-Wide Military Command
and Control System
WY Wyoming
WYSIWIS What You See Is What I See
WYSIWYG What You See Is What You Get

XYZ

XCF eXperimental Computing Facility

XD without Dividend
XDR eXternal Data Representation
XINU XINU Is Not UNIX
XL eXtra Large
XMTR transMiTteR (the X is for trans)
XNS Xerox Network Service
XO eXecutive Officer
XOR eXclusive OR (logical function)
XSECT cross SECTion
XTAL crysTAL (another version
of x for crys, see XMTR)
XUI X-windows User Interface

Y2K Year 2000

YA Yet Another
YACC Yet Another Compiler Compiler
YB YearBook
YMCA Young Mens Christian Association
YMHA Young Mens Hebrew Association
YOB Year Of Birth
YP Yellow Pages
YRS Ysgarth Rules System
YST Yukon Standard Time
YT Yukon Territory
YT Yukon Time
YTD Year To Date
YWCA Young Womens Christian Association
YWHA Young Womens Hebrew Association

Z Zenith
Z Zero
ZB Zero Beat
ZETA Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly
ZGS Zero Gradient Synchrotron
ZI Zonal Index
ZIP Zone Improvement Plan (post office code)
ZK barrage balloon (navy symbol)
ZMRI Zinc Metals Research Institute
ZPG Zero Population Growth
ZPRSN Zurich Provisional Relative Sunspot Number
ZST Zone Standard Time
ZT Zone Time
ZWEI Zwei Was Eine Initially

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