Abackronym treats an already existing word as anacronym and expands its letters into the words of a phrase, and so is effectively anacrostic. The word is aportmanteau ofback andacronym.[1] Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type offalse etymology orfolk etymology.
A normal acronym is a word derived from the initial letter(s) of the words of a phrase,[2] such asradar from "radio detection and ranging".[3] By contrast, a backronym is "an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words, either to create a memorable name or as a fanciful explanation of a word's origin".[1] Manyfictional espionage organizations are backronyms, such asSPECTRE (special executive for counterintelligence, terrorism, revenge and extortion) from theJames Bond franchise.
For example, theAmber alert missing-child program was named afterAmber Hagerman, a nine-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 1996.[4] Officials later publicized the backronym "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response".[5]
Backronyms are not to be confused withcontrived acronyms, where an acronym for a desired word is createdprospectively, rather thanretrospectively as it is with backronyms.
An example of a backronym as amnemonic is theApgar score, used to assess the health of newborn babies. The rating system was devised by and named afterVirginia Apgar. Ten years after the initial publication, the backronymAPGAR was coined in the US as a mnemonic learning aid: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration.[6] Another example is the American Contract Bridge League's tools to address cheating in online bridge games. EDGAR was originally named for Edgar Kaplan, whose many contributions to the game included groundbreaking efforts to reduce illegal partnership communication. The new EDGAR tools expected to debut in early 2024 have been launched with the backronym "everyone deserves a game above reproach".[7]
ManyUnited States Congress bills have backronyms as their names;[8] examples include theUSA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) of 2001, theCHIPS and Science Act (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors), and theDREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act).[8]
Sometimes a backronym is reputed to have been used in the formation of the original word, and amounts to a false etymology or anurban legend. Acronyms were rare in the English language before the 1930s, and most etymologies of common words or phrases that suggest origin from an acronym are false.[9]
Examples includeposh, an adjective describing stylish items or members of the upper class. A popular story derives the word as an acronym from "port out, starboard home", referring to 19th-century first-class cabins onocean liners, which were shaded from the sun on outbound voyages east (e.g. from Britain toIndia) and homeward voyages west.[10] The word's actual etymology is unknown, but more likely related toRomanipåš xåra ('half-penny') or toUrdu (borrowed fromPersian)safed-pōśh ('white robes'), a term for wealthy people.[11]
Another example is the wordchav, which is a derogatory term for a working-class youth. This word is probably of Romani origin[12] but commonly believed to be a backronym of "council-housed and violent".[13]
Similarly, the distress signalSOS is often believed to be an abbreviation for "save our ship" or "save our souls" but was chosen because it has a simple and unmistakableMorse code representation – three dots, three dashes, and three dots, sent without any pauses between characters.[14]
More recent examples include the brand nameAdidas, named after company founderAdolf "Adi" Dassler but falsely believed to be an acronym for "all day I dream about sport".[15][pages needed]
The wordwiki is said to stand for "what I know is",[16] but is in fact derived from theHawaiian phrasewiki-wiki meaning 'fast'.[17]
Yahoo!, sometimes claimed to mean "yet another hierarchical officious oracle", was in fact chosen because Yahoo's founders liked the word's meaning of "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth" (taken fromJonathan Swift's bookGulliver's Travels).[18]
The distress call "pan-pan" is commonly stated to mean "possible assistance needed", whereas it is in fact derived from the French wordpanne, meaning 'breakdown'.[19]