acronym

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a word formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name

Etymology

Borrowed from German Akronym, from Ancient Greek ἄκρον (ákron, “end, peak”) and ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”), equivalent to acro- (“high; beginning”) + -onym (“name”). Modelled after Homonym and Synonym, first attested in German in the early 1900s and in English in 1940.

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