JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
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TECHNICAL ABBREVIATIONS AND CONTRACTIONS IN ENGLISH1 CHARLOTTE SCHALER Sinclair Refining Company, New York, N.
N E W abbreviations are being created a t such a rate that dictionaries containing them become outdated by the time they reach print. To complicate matters further, writers in scientific and other, particularly technical, fields may invent their own abbreviations, at times giving no clue t o their meanings. This tendency to use abbreviations for everything from society names to chemical compounds and proc-eases poses a problem for the reader. The attached bibliography is a compilation of dictionaries and source material that will be helpful t o those having difficulties in untangling technical abbreviations. However, a t times an abbreviation cannot be found in any available reference book, and the reader must use his ingenuity. His only recourse is often that of entering the mental processes involved in the creation of the abbreviation. To do this an adequate familiarity with the subject matter must be supplemented by an understanding of how abbreviations are set up. Common usage rather than fixed rnles is involved-not that the random abbreviator consciously follows such usage! However, since the usual abbreviation methods are the outgrowth of natural mental processes, the impromptu abbreviator is likely to follow the same or similar lines of reasoning subconsciously. In English abbreviations are usually formed in the following wavs :
Presented before the Division of Chemical Literature a t the 125th Meeting of the American Chernicd Society, Kansas City, Ma., March, 1954.
Y.
(1) By using the first letter of a word or the first letter of each of a series of words. For example, m. for meter; p. for pressure; T. p. m. for revolutions per minute; NSC for National Security Council; LF for low frequency; f. p. for freezing point; N for normal. (2) By cutting a word or words to the single first letter of the more important syllables. For example, PVA for polyvinyl alcohol; ku. for kilovolt; BHC for benzene hexachloride; dl. for deciliter; T E L for tetraethyl lead. (3) By employing only the first letter of the first word of a series of words. (This method is poor, as several other meanings may often be assigned to such abbreviations, but it is used.) For example, A for atomic weight; D for diffusion coefficient; G for Gibbs function; 1 for latent heat per gram. (4) By listing two, three, or more of the first letters of a word or the first one or two syllables of a word or the first syllables of a series of words. For example tert but alc for tertiary butyl alcohol; crit. for critical; sq. in. for square inch; anhyd. for anhydrous; cres. for cresylic; comp. for complete, compilation, compare, complex, etc.; ar for aryl. (5) By combining the first one or two syllables with the last letter of the word. For example, soly. for solubility; satn. for saturation; evapd. for evaporated; evapn. for evaporation; manufg. for manufacturing; d i s s o n . for dissociation; crystn. for crystallization; alky. for alkalinity. (6) By using all or some of the consonants only,
MARCH, 1955
omitting all the vowels. For example, fxd. for fixed; lgr. for ligroin; rhbdr. for rhombohedra]; blksh. for blackish; Pt for platinum; Zn for zinc; Bz for henzoyl; ppt. for precipitate. (7) By combining the first consonant letter of a word with a vowel not exactly next to it or even in another syllable, or by combining the first vowel letter with a consonant appearing later in the word. For example, P u for plutonium; ha. for hectare; As for arsenic; T u for thulium; Re for rhenium; Et for eka-tantalum. (8) By using the first and last letters of a word. For example, BB. for Baum6; wt. for weight; V m for Virginium; qt. for quart; fn. for fusion; do. for ditto; T n for thoron. (9) By linking letter abbreviation, sometimes with number designation, t o part of a chemical formula. For example, MeOH for methyl alcohol; PrCl for propyl chloride; EtzO for ethyl ether; CsHa ~ ~ for alcohols derivs. for benzene derivatives; C G alcs. containing from 4 t o 10 carbon atoms; COrOrH3 gas aim. for a carbon-dioxide-oxygen-hydrogen gas atmosphere; A d H for acetic acid; HgClz addn. compd. for mercuric chloride addition compound. (10) By combining letters with mathematical designations. For example, hm.%for cubic hectometer; N1.%.. . for number of atoms or nuclei; AT for temperature difference; pH>9 for the logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration greater than 9 ; C;a polym. for a polymer with 18 carbon atoms in the chain. ( 1 1 ) By substituting the abbreviation of a Latin or other foreign equivalent. For example, ad. lib. (ad libitum) for a t one's pleasure; ibid. (ibidem) for in the same place; sc. (scilicet) for namely; seq. or sq. (sequens, sequentia) for the following; con. (contra) for against; Zb. (libra) for pound; N a (Natrium) for sodium; ka. (Kathode) for cathode; W (Wolfram) for tungsten. (12) By miscellaneous methods, including the combination of symbols with letters and combination of any of the above methods with each other. For example, Hmz. for maximum heat; cwt. for hundredweight; mol. wt. for molecular weight; m y for millimicrogram; n% for refractive index a t 20' and sodium light; vol. % for per cent by volume; T°C. for temperature in degrees Centigrade. Plural forms of abbreviations are often identical with the singular, as ft. for foot and feet, g. for gram and grams, bu. for bushel and bushels. Most frequently an s is added to form the plural, as temps. for temperatures, alca. for alcohols, expts. for experiments. The impromptu abbreviator uses one of these two methods t o form the plural, and is most unlikely to use a third, sometimes employed for standard abbreviations, namely that of doubling the first letter of the singular form, as pp. for sages, 11. for lines, qq. for quartos. While an occasional abbreviation seems to violate usage, or to fit no rules, generally an explanation can ~
be found. For example, bbl. should be the plural of bl., yet the singular for barrel is most frequently written as bbl. also. However, there is an abbreviation bl., found especially in older dictionaries; it even has another plural, listed as bls. Evidently the fact that material quoted in barrels was sold in larger amounts caused bl. to drop from use, as one barrel was seldom listed. Then bbl. was expanded t o include the singular. Some abbreviations use letters other than those in the word abbreviated, but here too the rules are not cast aside. For instance Xmas for Christmas results from combining the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, XPIXTOX, with the last syllable of Christmas. Mostly, foreign origin of part of the word or the use of a mathematical concept is a t the root of seeming incongruities. For example, Z may be used to designate atomic number. This is simply because in mathematics X, Y, and Z are used for variables. When an abbreviation cannot be found in any available dictionaries, the reader should seek the solution in the text itself. If the author does not actually state the meaning of an abbreviation, the sense of the material must provide the answer. A knowledge of abbreviation methods will greatly aid the reader in arriving a t the correct solution. As in most paths, there are pitfalls. Some trade or proprietary names may mislead the reader into taking them for true abbreviations, at least momentarily. MET might start one on a fruitless search for a suitable chemical to fit the letters; it is a trade name for an alkaline detergent made by the Buckeye Soda Co. HF may not stand for hydrofluoric acid; it can also stand for the lowest ~obalt~tungsten carbide of a line of sintered carbides, termed Firthite, named after the manufacturer. DH has nothing to do with deuterium and hydrogen; it is a photographic emulsion, a du Pont product. Amphyl is the trademark for a germicide, put out by Fritzsche Bros. A study of the context, common sense, and a lively imagination prevent slips in such cases. Sometimes it is necessary to understand the vocabulary of a special field to decode certain abbreviations. For example, in paint technology KU stands for Krebs unit, a measure of consistency. Unless the reader knows of this measure he cannot discover what K stands for, though he will know he is dealing with units of some sort. Those familiar with stream polLution and waste disposal will know that BOD stands for the biochemical oxygen demand test. If one is unfamiliar with the field to which a puzzling abbreviation belongs, perusal of textbooks or articles on the subject frequently provides the necessary clue. I n conclusion, there must be a reminder that the same group of letters may stand for several things. For example, u. may mean volume, vaDor, velocity. etc.; h. may signify hexa, hepta, height, head, boil zontal; K. may stand for kilometers, Kelvin, karat, potassium, centuple calorie. Even A. C. S. refers
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
not only to the American Chemical Society but also to the American College of Surgeons. Sifting the sense of the content points the meaning. BIBLIOGRAPHY (1) ALFREY, T., F. R. MAYO,AND F. T. WALL,J. Polyme(.Sci., 1, 581 (1946). (2) ALLEN,E. R., "Allen's Dictionary of Abbreviations and Symbols," Coward-McCann, New York, 1946. (3) AM. PETROLEUM INST.,"Glos8ary of Terms Used in Petroleum Refining," New Yark, 1953. ASSOC.,ASA-Z 32.13, "American Stand(4) AM.STANDARDS
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