20 Commonly Used Abbreviations That You Probably Don’t Know What They Stand For

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These 20 Abbreviations are used almost all the time in our everyday life, but many of us do not know (or bother) what they are in full form. Let’s track your score and see how many of these 20 abbreviations you knew what they stand for.


1) A.M/P.M

A.M & P.M stand for “Ante Meridiem” and “Post Meridiem”. In Latin, meaning “before midday” and “after midday”.

20-commonly-used-abbreviations-that-you-probably-dont-know-what-they-stand-for-2

2) e.g.

E.g. stands for “Exempli Gratia”, which means “Example given” or “for example”. Here’s and example: Jane loves to eat different types of fruit e.g. orange, apple and banana.

Image Credit: www.slideshare.net
Image Credit: www.slideshare.net

3) i.e.

i.e. stands for “id est”, a Latin phrase meaning “that is..” or “This is to say”. I.e. is used to restate an idea more clearly. Example: It happened in August i.e. two months ago.

Image Credit: www.youtube.com
Image Credit: www.youtube.com

4) Etc.

In short for “et cetera”, which means “and other things”. It is used to mention the continuation of a specific list. Example: Tennis, baseball, football, etc.

Image Credit: c-est-quoi.co
Image Credit: c-est-quoi.co

5) R.S.V.P

This acronym in full form is “répondez s’il vous plait” in French. It means “Please Reply”. It is often used on invitations to ask the invited guests to indicate whether they will be able to attend.

Image Credit: www.notonthehighstreet.com
Image Credit: www.notonthehighstreet.com

6) P.S.

It means “Post Script”. We usually see people stating P.S. at the end of a letter or email to include an extra thought that was intended to be included in the letter, but forgotten.

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Image Credit: www.donorpowerblog.com

7) I.Q. & E.Q.

We all know what I.Q. means i.e. a number used to represent the apparent relative intelligence of a person. But what’s I.Q. in full form? It stands for “Intelligence Quotient”. Quotient here means a result obtained by dividing one quantity by another. E.Q. on the other hand stands for “Emotional Quotient” or “Emotional Intelligence”.

Image Credit: www.inovizion.com
Image Credit: www.inovizion.com

8) SIM card

What does SIM stand for? SIM represents “Subscriber Identity Module”. Therefore SIM Card means a smart card carrying an identification number unique to the owner.

Image Credit: www.paritynews.com
Image Credit: www.paritynews.com

9) SMS

“Short Message Service” and needless to say, we all know that it is a text messaging service component of a phone.

Image Credit: www.knowyourmobile.com
Image Credit: www.knowyourmobile.com

10) ATM

Stands for “Automated Teller Machine”. And it is wrong to say ATM Machine because the abbreviation ATM has already included the word “Machine”.

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Image Credit: www.hackinparis.com

11) PIN

Likewise it is wrong to say PIN Number because PIN stands for “Personal Identification Number”. Saying PIN Number would mean “Personal Identification Number Number”.

Image Credit: www.businessinsider.com
Image Credit: www.businessinsider.com

12) CC & BCC

A common feature/fields in the email, CC means “Carbon Copy” while BCC means “Blind Carbon Copy”

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13) DVD

Short for “Digital Video Disc” or “Digital Versatile Disc”. Something we always watch but didn’t know what it stands for.

Image Credit: www.professorparrot.com
Image Credit: www.professorparrot.com

14) JPEG (JPG)

Most widely used graphic format. JPEG (or JPG) stands for “Joint Photographic Experts Group” who created the standard.

Image Credit: findicon.com
Image Credit: findicon.com

15) USB

It stands for “Universal Serial Bus”. It is an external serial bus interface standard for connecting peripheral devices to a computer, as in USB port; USB cable

Image Credit: www.forbes.com
Image Credit: www.forbes.com

16)   LCD or LED TVs

LCD stands for “Liquid Crystal Display” and LED stands for “Light Emitting Diode”. The LCD screen displays with the help of smallest entities called Liquid Crystals (also known as Pixels). LED is a very small piece of electronic component when many of it formed as a grid, create the visuals in screen.

Image Credit: gadgets.ndtv.com
Image Credit: gadgets.ndtv.com

17)   PhD

In short for “Doctor of Philosophy”. A doctorate in any discipline except medicine, or sometimes theology.

Image Credit: www.theguardian.com
Image Credit: www.theguardian.com

18)   LTE

LTE, short for “Long Term Evolution”, is a 4G mobile communications standard or wireless broadband technology developed by the Third Generation Project (3GPP), an industry trade group.

Image Credit: www.digitaltrends.com
Image Credit: www.digitaltrends.com

19)  ICU

We know it is a specialized section of a hospital that provides comprehensive and continuous care for persons who are critically ill. And it stands for “Intensive Care Unit” .

Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org
Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org

20)   SUV

Stands for “Sports Utility Vehicle”, vehicle similar to a station wagon, estate car, or a van which is usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on-road or off-road ability.

Image Credit: www.caranddriver.com
Image Credit: www.caranddriver.com

I scored 5 out of 20 (lol), how about you?

 

Also Read About: 10 Most Common English Wording Mistakes made by Malaysians , 9 Brands You Have Mistaken to be Malaysian Owned , 10 Grammatically Wrong Sentences Only Malaysian Will Understand