# abbreviation
## English
### Alternative forms

* abbr., abbrv., abbrev.

### Etymology

First attested 1400–50. From Middle English abbreviacioun, from Middle French abreviation, from Ecclesiastical Latin abbreviātiō, from Latin ad + breviō (“shorten”), from brevis (“short”). By surface analysis, abbreviate +‎ -ion.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /əˌbɹiː.viˈeɪ.ʃən/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /əˌbɹi.viˈeɪ.ʃn̩/
* Rhymes: -eɪʃən

### Noun

abbreviation (countable and uncountable, plural abbreviations)
* The result of shortening or reducing; abridgment. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
* (linguistics) A shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase used to represent the whole, using omission of letters, and sometimes substitution of letters, or duplication of initial letters to signify plurality, including signs such as +, =, @. [Late 16th century.] (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
    Hants is an abbreviation of Hampshire.
* The process of abbreviating. [Mid 16th century.]
* (music) A notation used in music score to denote a direction, as pp or mf.
* (music) One or more dashes through the stem of a note, dividing it respectively into quavers, semiquavers, demisemiquavers, or hemidemisemiquavers.
* Any convenient short form used as a substitution for an understood or inferred whole.
** 1946-1947, President Truman's committee on Civil Rights
    The phrase "civil rights" is an abbreviation for a whole complex of relationships.
* (biology) Loss during evolution of the final stages of the ancestral ontogenetic pattern.
* (mathematics) Reduction to lower terms, as a fraction.

#### Usage notes

* In the linguistic sense, typically used in the phrase "abbreviation of" or "abbreviation for", rather than "abbreviation from".

#### Synonyms

* abbreviature; abridgement; abstract; compend; compression; condensation; contraction; curtailment; epitome; reduction; shortcut; summary

#### Antonyms

* amplification; dilation; enlargement; expansion; expatiation; extension; production

#### Hyponyms

* (linguistics): acronym (employing initial letters or syllables); clipping (omitting several letters); initialism (employing initial letters); symbol, sign (employing marks other than letters)

#### Derived terms

* abbreviationitis
* [[:graphic abbreviation syllabic abbreviation#English|graphic abbreviation syllabic abbreviation]]

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### References

* 1 2 3 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abbreviation”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 3.

### Further reading

* Abbreviation in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
* “abbreviation”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
* “abbreviation”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
* "abbreviation" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.