Spelling of acronyms
Does this have a specific name?
Like DJ can be spelled deejay. Or okay for OK. NB as enby. Is there a word for doing this? I've googled and all I can find are discussions about if it is correct to use the spelled out form of the letters as a word, but can't figure out if doing this has a name. Driving me crazy because everything in English has a name. Does anyone know?
Thanks in advance for any help!
Top answer
Interesting! Well, I don't know the exact answer to your question, but I might be able to get you a little closer to it. Technically, something like "DJ" is an initialism, not an acronym.
- Interesting!
- Well, I don't know the exact answer to your question, but I might be able to get you a little closer to it.
- Technically, something like "DJ" is an initialism, not an acronym.
- e.
- e.
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Interesting! Well, I don't know the exact answer to your question, but I might be able to get you a little closer to it.
Technically, something like "DJ" is an initialism, not an acronym. Acronyms are already pronounced as words (i.e. "NASA") whereas initialisms are not (i.e. "FBI" or "CIA").
So what we're really talking about is a phonetic spelling of an initialism. DJ > deejay
0There does not seem to be an accepted name for words like that, probably because there are very few of them. They are simply the names of the letters concatenated. "Emcee" is another common one.
0DJ (disk jockey) and PC (personal computer) and CD (compact disk) are abbreviations.
You can read about abbreviations and acronyms here:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/about-words-clau
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