| acronym |
| Definition:
A word formed from the first letters of other words and pronounced as one word. Note: As opposed to an initialism, a word also formed from the first letters of other words, but whose letters are pronounced separately, as in BBC (bee - bee - cee). |
| Example:
(1) NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) (2) LASER (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) |
| Etymology:
According to Fischer and Roswitha in Lexical change in present-day English (1998), the word was coined in 1943 by Bell Laboratories. Ultimately, it derives from the Greek akros, tip or end + the English combining form onym, name. |
| OED: Its first citation is from 1943: "Words made up of the initial letters or syllables of other words … I have seen … called by the name acronym." (Amer. N. & Q. Feb. 167/1) |