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Acronyms

Term that is formed from the union of elements of two or more words and is read as one word.

What are acronyms?

An acronym is the term that is formed from the union of elements of two or more words and is read as a word. For example: Mercosur (Common Market of the South), docudrama (dramatic documentary). But acronyms are also called acronyms that are pronounced like a word and end up joining the lexicon and common use: For example, radar (radio detection and ranging).

The acronyms unite two or more lexical elements of the words that compose it. The most common are those that take the first element from the beginning and the second from the end of the second word. For example: transistor (Transfer resistor).

There are cases where series of words are created by acronym. These words maintain a first common element that begins to function as a prefix with a new meaning. For example, photo has mutated its meaning from light to related to photography and is constituted as a prefix of other words. For example: photomontage, fotonovela.

There are three possible meanings for the term "acronym". It is used to express three similar linguistic phenomena:

Word formed from initial letters,synonymous with acronym.
Word formed of initial lettersthat are pronounced syllabically and not as a succession of letters.
Word formed from the parts of other words,it is not necessary to be the initial letters, as in the acronym.

This last phenomenon is also called mot-valise or portmanteau.

Characteristics of acronyms

The main characteristics of acronyms are:

Its meaning is the unionor sum of the meanings of the words that constitute it. For example: informatics, adds the concept of information and automatic.
They are written without dotsbetween the letters, even if they come from acronyms. They differ from abbreviations, which have a period at the end.
They can be used as proper nouns, keeping the initial capital of the word they form. For example: Unesco,
If they are proper nouns and more than five letters, only the initial of the word they compose is capitalized.
It is possible that, being full words, they become common nouns, they are written with lowercase letters and can become plural. For example: led, UFO / UFOs.
They are accented following the usual spelling rules .
They are neologismsthat appear according to the need and use of the time.

Origin

The word acronym comes from the Greek and is made up of the roots of two words. On the one hand, it takes part of its meaning from akros, which means extreme, and on the other from ónoma, which means name, that is, a word made up of extremes . The word acronym is an acronym itself.

The spread of this word was not widely spread or accepted in the academic field, since there were other words with a similar meaning, such as acronym. It was only in the middle of the 20th century that it began to be incorporated and accepted in the Romance languages or English, initially as a synonym for other words.

Types of acronyms

There are two types of acronyms depending on the origin of the words that compose it. In some cases the division is confusing:

The acronyms that derive from acronyms: they are formed in such a way that they can be pronounced as a word and do not maintain the formal characteristics of the acronym. For example:
The acronyms that are constituted by means of the combination of words. Within this we can differentiate:
1. Prototypical: It is created with the initial letters and the final letters of two words. For example: dulcifluo, from sweet more mellifluous.
2. The fragment of a word that is combined with another complete word. For example: tragicomedy, the base of the word tragedy is maintained, while comedy remains whole.
3. The topic and word fragment are incorporated, it can be in one or the other order. For example: infographic.
4. The initial elements of different words are combined. For example: modem, from the words modulator and demodulator.

examples of acronyms

Some examples of acronyms can be:

Ave: Spanish high speed.
Baciyelmo: union of basin and helmet.
Ceamse: Ecological Coordination Metropolitan Area State
Cofema: Federal Environment Council, in Argentina.
IOC: International Olympic Committee.
Conafe: National Council for Educational Development, a Chilean entity.
COVENIN: Venezuelan Commission for Industrial Standards.
DAMA: Administrative Department of the Environment, based in Bogotá.
Dian. Directorate of National Taxes and Customs, entity of Colombia.
DINAMA: National Directorate for the Environment, in Uruguay.
Drae: Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
Edar: Wastewater treatment plant.
Fundéu: Urgent Spanish Foundation.
Gestapo: Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police).
INCAN: National Cancer Institute, in Mexico.
Incucai: National Central Single Coordinating Institute for Ablation and Implantation, in Argentina.
Interpol: International Police.
ITAM: Autonomous Technological Institute, in Mexico.
VAT: Value Added Tax.
Laser: Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
Mercosur: Common Market of the South.
UFO: Unidentified flying object.
Pin: Personal Identification Number.
SME: Small and medium-sized company.
RAM: Random Access Memory.
Sectur: Ministry of tourism.
AIDS: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
Sintra: National Procurement and Transplant Information System of the Argentine Republic.
Telematics: Telecommunication and computing.
ICT: Information and communication technologies.
UBA: University of Buenos Aires.
ICU: intensive care unit.
Unasur: Union of South American Nations.
Unesco: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
UNICEF: United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund.