Word.ws English Dictionary

acronymy

acronymy noun: the formation of words from the initial components of words in a phrase.

Noun

acronymy (uncountable)

  1. The formation of words from the initial components of words in a phrase
    • In modern China, due to school teaching, the modern media and international mobility, the English language and the Latin alphabet are quickly gaining ground and with them acronymy.2014, Franz Rainer, Francesco Gardani, Hans Christian Luschützky, Morphology and Meaning, →ISBN
  2. The use of acronyms.
    • In some cases of acronymy, the initials are pronounced as in TKO for Technical Knock Out. In others, the initials and/or beginning segments are pronounced as the spelled word would be, like in UFO, Unidentified Flying Object.2003, Helen Ponce de Leon-Ladera, Edna Montano-de la Cruz, Magelende Magallona-Flores, Eufrocina Angeles-Guevara, The New Dimensions in Learning English, →ISBN, page 438

Origin of acronymy

From acronym + -y.

Questions about acronymy

What does acronymy mean?
Acronymy means the formation of words from the initial components of words in a phrase.
What part of speech is acronymy?
Acronymy is a noun.

Words near acronymy in the dictionary

  1. acronymophilia
  2. acronymous
  3. acronymously
  4. acronymphomania
  5. acronyms
  6. acronymy
  7. acrook
  8. acroosteolysis
  9. acropachy
  10. acropachyderma
  11. acroparaesthesia

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: acronymy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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