Original: In computer programming, BASIC (an acronym for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code The acronym is tied to the name of an unpublished paper by Thomas Kurtz and is not a backronym, as is sometimes suggested in older versions of The Jargon File) is a family of high-level programming languages.
Simplified: The acronym (a word made from other words) is Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.