12 Essential Acronyms for Work

People say that modern languages around the world are rapidly simplifying, especially English. From lengthy and complex structures, we’re shifting to shorter, more understandable ones; long and intricate sentences are being broken down into more compact and concise forms, while cumbersome words or phrases in English are shortened to abbreviations. These kinds of abbreviations have recently become an integral part of our lives. The main purpose of them is to make communication easier and to save time in absorbing information. So, if you speak English in your everyday or professional life, rest assured that English abbreviations are essential.

Why is it essential to learn English abbreviations?

Abbreviations are shortened forms of one or more words, created by selecting or reducing certain letters within words.

 If you google informal messages from native speakers, you’ll see an abundance of various shortened forms, ranging from the well-known thnx (thanks) to brb (be right back). You’ve probably already realized that these little words are indispensable in today’s communication in foreign languages, including English.

There are several ways to form abbreviations, in English, which include:

1. Acronyms

2. Word Shortenings

3. End-of-word Truncations

4. Latin-Based type

5. Other Types

Let's go through each type of English abbreviation:

1. Acronyms

Acronyms are abbreviations created by taking the first letter of each word in a phrase:

• As far as I know — AFAIK 

• Also known as — AKA 

• As soon as possible — ASAP 

• Be right back — BRB 

• Call you later — CUL

• Just kidding — JK 

• Miss you — MU 

• Talk to you later — TTYL
   

• Word Shortenings

These shortenings have recently become popular in Ukrainian cafes and restaurants, if you know what I mean. These are abbreviations in which vowels are omitted:

• About — abt 

• Because — bc 

• Don’t know — dno 

• Going to — gonna 

• Have — hv 

• However — hwr 

• Please — pls 

• Really — rly 

• Something — smth 

• Thanks — thnx 

• Week — w 

• Want to — wanna
   

• End-of-word truncations

In this case, it’s simple — endings are removed to make words shorter:

• documents — docs 

• immediately — imm 

• father — fath 

• mother — moth 

• necessary — nec 

• today — tod 

• tomorrow — tom
   

• Latin-based abbreviations

Some expressions were borrowed from Latin and are used in various modern languages in their abbreviated form:

• etc. — et cetera 

• e.g. — exempli gratia

• vs — versus 

English Abbreviations for work — a quick overview

Modern business English is also rich in various shortened word forms frequently used in business correspondence. A course by Booyya is dedicated to this topic, covering the most relevant English abbreviations for work. By completing it, you’ll learn what abbreviations like these mean:

• TBA — to be announced 

Instead of the time there was TBA, so I expected one more message. 

• OOO — out of office

Don’t disturb me today, I’m OOO! 

• FYI — for your information 

Just FYI, John sent you a meeting invitation on Slack. 

Along with a list of popular English abbreviations, you’ll find:

• reading texts in various contexts;

• interactive exercises to reinforce the material;

• flashcards for efficient memorization of new words.

So, in just one lesson of our course, you’ll be able to learn 25 new shortened forms of words, practice their real-world use, and gain a new set of skills for work and business. Note that the material is designed for an Advanced level. Let’s get to practice!