View source for Backronym

{{Short description|Acronym invented to fit an existing word}}
{{confuse|Retronym}}
[[File:COLBERT_patch.jpg|thumb|right|Humorous example of a backronym used by NASA to name [[Treadmill with Vibration Isolation Stabilization|a treadmill on the International Space Station]], in reference to American comedian [[Stephen Colbert]]]]
A '''backronym''' is an [[acronym]] formed from an already existing word by expansion of its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of [[false etymology]] or [[folk etymology]]. The word is a [[portmanteau]] of ''back'' and ''acronym''.<ref name="oxforddictionaries.com"/>

A normal acronym is a word derived from the initial letter(s) of the words of a phrase,<ref name="dict-ref-acronym">
{{cite web| url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/acronym | title=Acronym | work = Dictionary.com |access-date=2006-11-15| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061028021324/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Acronym| archive-date= 28 October 2006 | url-status= live}}
</ref> such as ''[[radar]]'' from "radio detection and ranging".<ref name="nasa">
{{cite web |url= http://www.nasaexplores.com/show_k4_teacher_st.php?id=030703122033 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20040128164933/http://www.nasaexplores.com/show_k4_teacher_st.php?id=030703122033 |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2004-01-28 |author= NASA |author-link= National Aeronautics and Space Administration |work= Nasa Explores |title= RADAR means: '''Ra'''dio '''D'''etection '''a'''nd '''R'''anging }}
</ref> 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".<ref name="oxforddictionaries.com">{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/backronym|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301074616/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/backronym|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 1, 2019|title=Backronym – Definition of backronym in English by Oxford Dictionaries|website=Oxford Dictionaries – English}}</ref> Many [[list of fictional espionage organizations|fictional espionage organizations]] are backronyms, such as [[SPECTRE]] (special executive for counterintelligence, terrorism, revenge and extortion) from the ''[[James Bond]]'' franchise.

For example, the [[Amber Alert]] missing-child program was named after [[Amber Hagerman]], a nine-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amberadvocate.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AMBER-Alert-History.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.amberadvocate.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AMBER-Alert-History.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=AmberAdvocate.org: AMBER Alert history}}</ref> Officials later publicized the backronym "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amberalert.gov/ |title=AMBER Alert – America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response |publisher=Amberalert.gov |date=2007-11-01 |access-date=2010-07-08| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100727174209/http://www.amberalert.gov/| archive-date= 27 July 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>

==Examples==
<!-- PLEASE: Do not add new backronyms without citations and mentioning SIGNIFICANCE on [[Talk:Backronym]] This is a list of examples. It is ''not'' meant to be exhaustive. This section illustrates a concept; it's not an anthology. Please suggest items on the talkpage first, and make sure there's a [[wp:rs]] reliable source. New items should be in wide circulation. -->

An example of a backronym as a [[mnemonic]] is the [[Apgar score]], used to assess the health of newborn babies. The rating system was devised by and named after [[Virginia Apgar]]. Ten years after the initial publication, the backronym ''APGAR'' was coined in the US as a mnemonic learning aid: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/CP/Views/Exhibit/narrative/obstetric.html|publisher=U.S. National Library of Medicine, NIH|title=The Virginia Apgar Papers - Obstetric Anesthesia and a Scorecard for Newborns, 1949-1958|access-date=2008-11-18|archive-date=2009-01-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113173529/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/CP/Views/Exhibit/narrative/obstetric.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Official |first1=ACBL |url=https://bridgewinners.com/article/view/acbl-battles-online-cheating-with-edgar/ |website=Bridge Winners |access-date=November 15, 2023 |title=ACBL Battles Online Cheating with EDGAR |date=8 November 2023 |archive-date=November 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115195955/https://bridgewinners.com/article/view/acbl-battles-online-cheating-with-edgar/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Many [[United States Congress]] bills have backronyms as their names;<ref name="roll-call" /> examples include the [[Patriot Act|USA PATRIOT Act]] (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) of 2001, the [[CHIPS and Science Act]] (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors), and the [[DREAM Act]] (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act).<ref name="roll-call">{{cite web|url=https://www.rollcall.com/2020/07/28/mitch-mcconnell-coronavirus-backronym/|title=The art of the 'backronym'|date=July 28, 2020|website=[[Roll Call]]|access-date=January 24, 2022|archive-date=January 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124065736/https://www.rollcall.com/2020/07/28/mitch-mcconnell-coronavirus-backronym/|url-status=live}}</ref> 
===As false etymologies===
{{further|List of common false etymologies of English words#Acronyms}}
Sometimes a backronym is reputed to have been used in the formation of the original word, and amounts to a false etymology or an [[urban 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.<ref name=F-word>{{Cite book |last1=Sheidlower |first1=Jesse |author-link1=Jesse Sheidlower |title=[[The F-Word (book)|The F-Word]] |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press US |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-539311-8}}</ref>

Examples include [[wikt:posh|''posh'']]{{anchor|POSH}}, 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 on [[ocean liners]], which were shaded from the sun on outbound voyages east (e.g. from Britain to [[British India|India]]) and homeward voyages west.<ref name="posh">
{{cite book|title=Port Out, Starboard Home: And Other Language Myths|publisher=Penguin |last=Quinion|first=Michael|isbn=0-14-101223-4|year=2005}}; published in the US as
{{cite book|title=Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds|last=Quinion|first=Michael|year=2006|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-085153-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ballyhoobuckaroo0000quin_z4e2}}</ref> The word's actual etymology is unknown, but more likely related to [[Romani language|Romani]] {{lang|rom|påš xåra}} ('half-penny') or to [[Urdu]] (borrowed from [[Persian language|Persian]]) {{lang|ur-Latn|safed-pōśh}} ('white robes'), a term for wealthy people.<ref>{{cite dictionary |year=2009 |title =posh, ''adj.'' and ''n.'' |dictionary=Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford}}</ref>

Another example is the word [[wikt:chav|''chav'']]{{anchor|CHAV}}, which is a derogatory term for a working-class youth. This word is probably of Romani origin<ref>{{cite dictionary |year=2023 |title =chav |dictionary=Wiktionary |publisher=The Wikimedia Foundation}}</ref> but commonly believed to be a backronym of "council-housed and violent".<ref>{{cite news |last=Bennett |first=Joe |title=Everything you ever wanted to know about the word 'chav' |url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/accessibility/transcripts/dr-joe-bennett-chav.aspx |work=Ideas Lab Predictor Podcast, University of Birmingham |date=30 April 2012 |access-date=2023-10-13 |archive-date=2023-09-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929171150/https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/accessibility/transcripts/dr-joe-bennett-chav.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>

Similarly, the distress signal [[SOS]] is often believed to be an abbreviation for "save our ship" or "save our souls" but was chosen because it has a simple and unmistakable [[Morse code]] representation{{snd}} three dots, three dashes, and three dots, sent without any pauses between characters.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rohrer |first=Finlo |title=Save our SOS |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7444184.stm |work=BBC News Magazine |date=13 June 2008 |access-date=2012-07-10 |archive-date=2012-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202172820/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7444184.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

More recent examples include the brand name [[Adidas]], named after company founder [[Adolf Dassler|Adolf "Adi" Dassler]] but falsely believed to be an acronym for "all day I dream about sport".<ref name="adidas book">{{cite book |last1=Brunner |first1=Conrad |title=All Day I Dream About Sport: The Story of the Adidas Brand |date=2004 |publisher=Cyan |location=London |isbn=1-904879-12-8 |series=Great Brand Stories}}</ref>{{pages?|date=November 2023}} 

The word ''[[wiki]]'' is said to stand for "what I know is",<ref name="economist-wiki">{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6794228|title=The wiki principle|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=2006-11-15|date=2006-04-20| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061007095842/http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6794228| archive-date= 7 October 2006 | url-status= live}}</ref> but in fact is derived from the [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] phrase ''wiki-wiki'' meaning 'fast'.<ref name="dict-ref-wiki">{{cite dictionary |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wiki|title=wiki |dictionary=Dictionary.com|access-date=2006-11-15| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061206015347/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wiki| archive-date= 6 December 2006 | url-status= live}}</ref> 

[[Yahoo!]], sometimes claimed to mean "yet another hierarchical officious oracle", in fact was chosen because Yahoo's founders liked the word's meaning of "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth" (taken from [[Jonathan Swift]]'s book ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'').<ref name="Yahoo-Info">{{cite web |title=The History of Yahoo! - How It All Started... |url=http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/history.html |date=2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011129061649/http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/history.html |archive-date=29 November 2001 |work=Yahoo |access-date=8 November 2015}}</ref> The distress call "[[pan-pan]]" is commonly stated to mean "possible assistance needed", whereas it is in fact derived from the French word ''panne'', meaning 'breakdown'.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Eli |date=18 January 2023 |title=Qantas flight QF144 lands safely at Sydney Airport after midair mayday call |work=news.com.au |url=https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/fears-for-flight-after-mayday-called-for-qantas-flight-auckland-to-sydney/news-story/82bab4c70582ba4f7e7af0a8058fcbc2 |access-date=18 January 2023 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118061647/https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/fears-for-flight-after-mayday-called-for-qantas-flight-auckland-to-sydney/news-story/82bab4c70582ba4f7e7af0a8058fcbc2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Acronymization]]
* [[Acrostic]]
* [[Mnemonic]]
* [[Pseudo-acronym]]
* [[Recursive acronym]]
* [[Retronym]]
* [[Satiric misspelling]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}


[[Category:Acronyms|B]]
[[Category:Etymology]]
[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Neologisms]]
[[Category:Types of words]]
[[Category:1980s neologisms]]