Abbreviations.com is the world's largest and most comprehensive directory and search engine for acronyms, abbreviations and initialisms on the Internet.
On a daily basis people are exposed to and baffled by new, ever-growing shorthand terms where occasionally a single term has several meanings and it is the context that determines how to interpret the utterances. In addition, one might need to have a list of acronyms or abbreviations that relates to a specific subject. It might be a student that looks for a list of terms in physiology, a businessman that needs to prepare a lecture on international business or a laboratory that would like to print an abbreviated form of the Periodic Table.
Abbreviations.com answers those needs by supplying an extensive directory and a powerful search engine that provides comprehensive definition results for a specific term, grouped by categories. It also provides the ability to browse a list of terms that relates to a specific subject.
Abbreviations.com holds hundreds of thousands of entries organized by a large variety of categories from computing and the Web to governmental, medicine and business and it is expanding daily.
Browse the Web's Largest Acronyms & Abbreviations Resource
- COMPUTING: Assembly, General, File Extensions, Networking, Telecom, Software, Hardware, Assembly, Databases, SMS, Drivers, Security , Unix »
- INTERNET: Chat, Domain Names, Wannas, HTTP, MIME, ASCII »
- ACADEMIC & SCIENCE: Chemistry, Electronics, Ocean Science, Meteorology, Amateur Radio, Universities, Mathematics, Physics, Academic Degrees »
- MISCELLANEOUS: Funnies, Food, Farming, Plastics, Sci-Fi, Months, Days, Unit Measures, Chess, Clothes, Journal Abbreviation Sources »
- MEDICAL: Physiology, Oncology, Laboratory, Human Genome, Veterinary, Hospitals »
- BUSINESS: Occupations & Positions, International, Stock Exchange, Firms, Accounting, NASDAQ Symbols, NYSE Symbols »
- GOVERNMENTAL: UN, Military, US Gov., NASA, Police, FBI, State & Local, Suppliers, Transportation »
- COMMUNITY: Famous, Sports, Media, Religion, Unions, Law, Educational, Film Censorship, Schools, Conferences, Music, Non-Profit »
- REGIONAL: Countries, US States, Canada Provinces, Currencies, Time Zones, Airport Codes, Telephone Country Codes, Railroads »
- INTERNATIONAL: Spanish, French, Mexican, Russian, Italian, Latin, German, Turkish, Hebrew »
With more than 575,000 (07.12.2007) human-edited entries, Acronym Finder is the world's largest and most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms. Combined with the Acronym Attic, Acronym Finder contains more than 4 million acronyms and abbreviations. New! You can also search for more than 850,000 US and Canadian postal codes. more...
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Our database is updated every couple of days. There are over 50,000 acronyms and abbreviations in many categories. Including chat, computer, military, finance, accounting, airports, sports, classified, and more.
FAQ Topics: What is an Acronym? | Acronym Grammar | Acronym Capitalization | Acronym Pluralizations
Misc Topics: Computer Acronyms | Space Acronyms | State and Country Codes
- A
- ABEDA: Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa
- ACP Group: African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States
- ADB: Asian Development Bank
- AfDB: African Development Bank
- AFESD: Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development
- AG: Australia Group
- Air Pollution: Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
- Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides: Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution Concerning the Control of Emissions of Nitrogen Oxides or Their Transboundary Fluxes
- Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants: Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants
- Air Pollution-Sulphur 85: Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on the Reduction of Sulphur Emissions or Their Transboundary Fluxes by at Least 30%
- Air Pollution-Sulphur 94: Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Further Reduction of Sulphur Emissions
- Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds: Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution Concerning the Control of Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds or Their Transboundary Fluxes
- AMF: Arab Monetary Fund
- AMU: Arab Maghreb Union
- Antarctic Marine Living Resources: Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
- Antarctic Seals: Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals
- Antarctic-Environmental Protocol: Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty
- ANZUS: Australia-New Zealand-United States Security Treaty
- AOSIS: Alliance of Small Island States
- APEC: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
- Arabsat: Arab Satellite Communications Organization
- ARF: ASEAN Regional Forum
- ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- AU: African Union
- Autodin: Automatic Digital Network
- B
- BA: Baltic Assembly
- bbl/day: barrels per day
- BCIE: Central American Bank for Economic Integration
- BDEAC: Central African States Development Bank
- Benelux: Benelux Union
- BGN: United States Board on Geographic Names
- BIMSTEC: Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation
- Biodiversity: Convention on Biological Diversity
- BIS: Bank for International Settlements
- BSEC: Black Sea Economic Cooperation Zone
- C
- C: Commonwealth
- c.i.f.: cost, insurance, and freight
- CACM: Central American Common Market
- CAEU: Council of Arab Economic Unity
- CAN: Andean Community of Nations
- Caricom: Caribbean Community and Common Market
- CB: citizen's band mobile radio communications
- CBSS: Council of the Baltic Sea States
- CCC: Customs Cooperation Council
- CD: Community of Democracies
- CDB: Caribbean Development Bank
- CE: Council of Europe
- CEI: Central European Initiative
- CEMA: Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
- CEMAC: Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa
- CEPGL: Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries
- CEPT: Conference Europeanne des Poste et Telecommunications
- CERN: European Organization for Nuclear Research
- CIA: Central Intelligence Agency
- CICA: Conference of Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia
- CIS: Commonwealth of Independent States
- CITES: see Endangered Species
- Climate Change: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol: Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- COCOM: Coordinating Committee on Export Controls
- COMESA: Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
- Comsat: Communications Satellite Corporation
- CP: Colombo Plan
- CPLP: Comunidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa
- CSN: South American Community of Nations became UNASUL - Union of South American Nations
- CSN: Union of South American Nations
- CSTO: Collective Security Treaty Organization
- CTBTO: Preparation commission for the Nuclear-Ban-Treaty Operation
- CY: calendar year
- D
- D-8: Developing Eight
- DC: developed country
- DDT: dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane
- Desertification: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa
- DIA: United States Defense Intelligence Agency
- DSN: Defense Switched Network
- DST: daylight savings time
- DWT: deadweight ton
- E
- EAC: East African Community
- EADB: East African Development Bank
- EAEC: Eurasian Economic Community
- EAPC: Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
- EAS: East Asia Summit
- EBRD: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
- EC: European Community or European Commission
- ECA: Economic Commission for Africa
- ECE: Economic Commission for Europe
- ECLAC: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
- ECO: Economic Cooperation Organization
- ECOSOC: Economic and Social Council
- ECOWAS: Economic Community of West African States
- ECSC: European Coal and Steel Community
- EE: Eastern Europe
- EEC: European Economic Community
- EEZ: exclusive economic zone
- EFTA: European Free Trade Association
- EIB: European Investment Bank
- EMU: European Monetary Union
- Endangered Species: Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES)
- Entente: Council of the Entente
- Environmental Modification: Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques
- ESA: European Space Agency
- ESCAP: Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
- ESCWA: Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
- est.: estimate
- EU: European Union
- Euratom: European Atomic Energy Community
- Eutelsat: European Telecommunications Satellite Organization
- Ex-Im: Export-Import Bank of the United States
- F
- f.o.b.: free on board
- FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization
- FATF: Financial Action Task Force
- FAX: facsimile
- FLS: Front Line States
- FOC: flags of convenience
- FSU: former Soviet Union
- FY: fiscal year
- FZ: Franc Zone
- G
- G-2: Group of 2
- G-3: Group of 3
- G-5: Group of 5
- G-6: Group of 6
- G-7: Group of 7
- G-8: Group of 8
- G-9: Group of 9
- G-10: Group of 10
- G-15: Group of 15
- G-11: Group of 11
- G-24: Group of 24
- G-77: Group of 77
- GATT: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; now WTO
- GCC: Gulf Cooperation Council
- GCTU: General Confederation of Trade Unions
- GDP: gross domestic product
- GMT: Greenwich Mean Time
- GNP: gross national product
- GRT: gross register ton
- GSM: global system for mobile cellular communications
- GUAM: Organization for Democracy and Economic Development; acronym for member states - Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova
- GWP: gross world product
- H
- Hazardous Wastes: Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal
- HF: high-frequency
- HIV/AIDS: human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome
- I
- IADB: Inter-American Development Bank
- IAEA: International Atomic Energy Agency
- IANA: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
- IBRD: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank)
- ICAO: International Civil Aviation Organization
- ICC: International Chamber of Commerce
- ICCt: International Criminal Court
- ICJ: International Court of Justice (World Court)
- ICRC: International Committee of the Red Cross
- ICRM: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
- ICSID: International Center for Secretariat of Investment Disputes
- ICTR: International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
- ICTY: International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
- IDA: International Development Association
- IDB: Islamic Development Bank
- IDP: Internally Displaced Person
- IEA: International Energy Agency
- IFAD: International Fund for Agricultural Development
- IFC: International Finance Corporation
- IFRCS: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
- IGAD: Inter-Governmental Authority on Development
- IHO: International Hydrographic Organization
- ILO: International Labor Organization
- IMF: International Monetary Fund
- IMO: International Maritime Organization
- IMSO: International Mobile Satellite Organization
- Inmarsat: International Maritime Satellite Organization
- InOC: Indian Ocean Commission
- INSTRAW: International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
- Intelsat: International Telecommunications Satellite Organization
- Interpol: International Criminal Police Organization
- Intersputnik: International Organization of Space Communications
- IOC: International Olympic Committee
- IOM: International Organization for Migration
- IPU: Inter-parliamentary Union
- ISO: International Organization for Standardization
- ISP: Internet Service Provider
- ITSO: International Telecommunications Satellites Organization
- ITU: International Telecommunication Union
- ITUC: International Trade Union Confederation, the successor to ICFTU (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions) and the WCL (World Confederation of Labor)
- K
- kHz: kilohertz
- km: kilometer
- kW: kilowatt
- kWh: kilowatt-hour
- L
- LAES: Latin American Economic System
- LAIA: Latin American Integration Association
- LAS: League of Arab States
- Law of the Sea: United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOS)
- LDC: less developed country
- LLDC: least developed country
- London Convention: see Marine Dumping
- LOS: see Law of the Sea
- M
- m: meter
- Marecs: Maritime European Communications Satellite
- Marine Dumping: Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping Wastes and Other Matter
- Marine Life Conservation: Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas
- MARPOL: see Ship Pollution
- Medarabtel: Middle East Telecommunications Project of the International Telecommunications Union
- Mercosur: Southern Cone Common Market
- MHz: megahertz
- MICAH: International Civilian Support Mission in Haiti
- MIGA: Multilateral Investment Geographic Agency
- MINURSO: United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara
- MINUSTAH: United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti
- MONUSCO: United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- N
- NA: not available
- NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement
- NAM: Nonaligned Movement
- NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- NC: Nordic Council
- NEA: Nuclear Energy Agency
- NEGL: negligible
- NGA: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
- NGO: nongovernmental organization
- NIB: Nordic Investment Bank
- NIC: newly industrializing country
- NIE: newly industrializing economy
- NIS: new independent states
- nm: nautical mile
- NMT: Nordic Mobile Telephone
- NSG: Nuclear Suppliers Group
- Nuclear Test Ban: Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water
- NZ: New Zealand
- O
- OAPEC: Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries
- OAS: Organization of American States
- OAU: Organization of African Unity; see African Union
- ODA: official development assistance
- OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
- OECS: Organization of Eastern Caribbean States
- OHCHR: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
- OIC: Organization of the Islamic Conference
- OIF: International Organization of the French-speaking World
- OOF: other official flows
- OPANAL: Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean
- OPCW: Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
- OPEC: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
- OSCE: Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
- Ozone Layer Protection: Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer
- P
- PCA: Permanent Court of Arbitration
- PFP: Partnership for Peace
- PIF: Pacific Islands Forum
- PPP: purchasing power parity
- R
- Ramsar: see Wetlands
- RG: Rio Group
- S
- SAARC: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
- SACEP: South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme
- SACU: Southern African Customs Union
- SADC: Southern African Development Community
- SAFE: South African Far East Cable
- SCO: Shanghai Cooperation Organization
- SECI: Southeast European Cooperative Initiative
- SHF: super-high-frequency
- Ship Pollution: Protocol of 1978 Relating to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships, 1973 (MARPOL)
- SICA: Central American Integration System
- Sparteca: South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement
- SPC: Secretariat of the Pacific Communities
- SPF: South Pacific Forum
- sq km: square kilometer
- sq mi: square mile
- T
- TAT: Trans-Atlantic Telephone
- TEU: Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit, a unit of measure for containerized cargo capacity
- Tropical Timber 83: International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1983
- Tropical Timber 94: International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994
- U
- UAE: United Arab Emirates
- UDEAC: Central African Customs and Economic Union
- UHF: ultra-high-frequency
- UK: United Kingdom
- UN: United Nations
- UN-AIDS: Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS
- UNAMID: African Union/United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur
- UNASUR: Union of South American Nations
- UNCLOS: United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, also know as LOS
- UNCTAD: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
- UNDCP: United Nations Drug Control Program
- UNDEF: United Nations Democracy Fund
- UNDOF: United Nations Disengagement Observer Force
- UNDP: United Nations Development Program
- UNEP: United Nations Environment Program
- UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
- UNFICYP: United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus
- UNFIP: United Nations Fund for International Partnerships
- UNFPA: United Nations Population Fund
- UN-Habitat: United Nations Center for Human Settlements
- UNHCR: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
- UNICEF: United Nations Children's Fund
- UNICRI: United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute
- UNIDIR: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
- UNIDO: United Nations Industrial Development Organization
- UNIFIL: United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
- UN-INSTRAW: International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women
- UNITAR: United Nations Institute for Training and Research
- UNMIK: United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
- UNMIL: United Nations Mission in Liberia
- UNMIS: United Nations Mission in the Sudan
- UNMIT: United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste
- UNMOGIP: United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan
- UNOCI: United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire
- UNOPS: United Nations Office of Project Services
- UNRISD: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development
- UNRWA: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
- UNSC: United Nations Security Council
- UNSSC: Untied Nations System Staff College
- UNTSO: United Nations Truce Supervision Organization
- UNU: United Nations University
- UNWTO: World Tourism Organization
- UPU: Universal Postal Union
- US: United States
- USSR: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union); used for information dated before 25 December 1991
- UTC: Coordinated Universal Time
- UV: ultra violet
- V
- VHF: very-high-frequency
- VSAT: very small aperture terminal
- W
- WADB: West African Development Bank
- WAEMU: West African Economic and Monetary Union
- WCL: World Confederation of Labor
- WCO: World Customs Organization
- Wetlands: Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially As Waterfowl Habitat
- WEU: Western European Union
- WFP: World Food Program
- WFTU: World Federation of Trade Unions
- Whaling: International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
- WHO: World Health Organization
- WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization
- WMO: World Meteorological Organization
- WP: Warsaw Pact
- WTO: World Trade Organization
- Z
- ZC: Zangger Committee
- 1. About... What is V.E.R.A.?
- 2. List format Systematic approach of the acronym list (if any)
- 3. Acronym Definition of the word acronym
- 4. History and other useful information News, changes, requests, ...
- 5. Acknowledgments List of contributors and other credits
- 6. Disclaimer Please read before printing, copying or the like
- A.0 GNU Free Documentation License The full legalese for copying and distributing
- Index
1. About...
V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms
V.E.R.A. is a free list of acronyms all of which are used in the field of computing.
V.E.R.A. is primarily meant to be used as an online reference, although some efforts have been taken to make its TeX output looking acceptable. However I doubt that somebody would like to print it. The original release compiled to 250 pages.
This edition is a special contribution to the GNU project similar to the version 6.0 of V.E.R.A. It contains approximately 9203 acronyms.
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Les quatre grandes bases terminologiques suivantes ne recensent que l'expression "digital video disk" pour "DVD".
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Ensuite, de nombreux glossaires offrent les 2 possibilités ("versatile" et "video").
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Une référence intéressante indique qu'historiquement, l'acronyme "DVD" a d'abord signifié "digital video disc" et que la notion de polyvalence ("versatility") est venue ensuite: "Originally referred to as "digital video discs", these high-capacity optical disks..."
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Je pense que c'est là l'explication de la double traduction de cet acronyme car l'objectif initial était de proposer des films cinématographiques sur vidéodisques (dont certains formats et procédés existaient longtemps avant l'apparition du DVD).
Actuellement, la technique du DVD n'est pas encore vraiment cristallisée puisqu'on a passé du "DVD" simple couche / simple face (4,7 GB) au DVD double couche / simple face (8,5 GB) et maintenant au DVD double couche / double face (17 GB). IBM a mis au point en laboratoire un DVD à 10 couches dont je vous laisse calculer la capacité... L'application la plus courante et la plus populaire est évidemment celle des films de cinéma (en codage MPEG-x) et je pense qu'elle le restera (car on peut consulter plus facilement et ponctuellement des encyclopédies et bases textuelles en ligne).
L'introduction de l'unique option (de l'industrie privée anglo-saxonne) "versatile" / "polyvalent" dans le Vocabulaire informatique de l'administration française me paraît donc avoir fait l'objet d'une décision prématurée et discutable car n'ayant pas fait l'objet d'une concertation avec les organisations de normalisation internationales compétentes. (D. Bloud)
An Excellent page maintained by Kelly Smith at the Social Sciences and Humanities Library of UCSD. When possible, these links go directly to the official website for the agency or program listed. For more comprehensive coverage of military-related acronyms, please check the sources listed on the Military Acronyms and Glossaries page.
ICANN OKs International Domains: The Pros and Cons
Paul Suarez
Nov 1, 2009 5:53 pm
ICANN's approval of non-Latin character domains undoubtedly is a game-changing decision in the history of the World Wide Web. With scheduled to start popping up in the middle of next year, many people are debating if this digital support for more distinctly international sites balances with potential security threats and fragmentation of the Internet.
Here are a few pros and cons to consider as we move away from the traditional ASCII based-Web.
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Question: de Maxime : quelle est donc l'origine de l'expression "OK" ?
Réponse: On l'attribue à la mauvaise orthographe du 7e Président des Etats Unis, Andrew Jackson, qui aurait écrit, pour dire que tout allait bien : "oll korrect". On en aurait donc fait des initiales moqueuses mais... internationales à présent!
Question: Manuel B. de Dublin (Irlande) me donne une autre explication aux initiales "OK": elles viendraient du comptage des morts par les Américains après les batailles. Exemple: "2 kills" qui s'écrivait donc "2K". Quand il n' y avait pas de mort et que, donc, tout allait bien on écrivait "zero killed", soit "0K"...
Réponse: Quelqu'un d'entre vous pourrait-il confirmer l'une ou l'autre de ces deux explications? Le suspens est terrible!
Question: Stephane L. de Belgique nous donne une autre explication de "OK": "ces deux initiales seraient le mot-code donné aux pilotes alliés pour aller bombarder l'Allemagne sans survoler la France mais en passant au dessus de Copenhague, c'est-à-dire dans leur langue "over Kobenhaven", d'où "OK"."
Réponse: Je trouve cette explication un peu tordue mais ... on ne sait jamais! Si quelqu'un en a une autre...
okay, O.K.
OK by me
Nineteenth-century American humor relied heavily on misspelling. As literacy became widespread, it was inevitable that skill in reading and writing would become markers of social class and background. Bad spellers in journalism and literature, usually rustics, provided a somewhat-better-educated middle class with amusement and a confirmation of their own superior status.
It is to this tradition that we owe the most substantial American contribution to the English language, the English word most universally understood and used: "OK".
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... The Legends of the Word OK (okay)
Every day people use the word "OK". But where did it come from? In truth, no one really knows for sure, but there are several different theories as to where it originates.
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Zigarettenmarken: O.K. | OK | OK Premium
"O.K.", loc. adv. "O.K.", loc. adv.
Étymol. et Hist. 1. 1869 (L'Ingénieur, loc. cit.); 2. 1931 interj. (L. Durtain, Conquêtes du monde. Captain O.K., 16 et n. ds Höfler Anglic.). Empr. à l'anglo-amér. "O.K." att. pour la 1re fois en 1839 comme abrév. de "all correct" "tout à fait correct", "bien" interprété "oll korrect" selon une mode d'abrév. fondées sur des interprétations graph. fantaisistes alors très en vogue sur la côte est des États-Unis (p. ex. "O.W." pour "all right" "tout juste" interprété "oll wright"), notamment à Boston où "O.K." est d'abord att.
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Okay
22/03/2015 - ¿De dónde viene la expresión "OK"?
Woher kommt eigentlich ...?
"O.K.", "leiwand" und andere Wörter mit schleierhaftem Ursprung - eine etymologische Hitparade, möglicherweise Teil 1
Zu den meistgestellten Fragen, die uns von UserInnen eingesandt werden, gehört Woher kommt eigentlich das Wort .... Die Palette reicht dabei von der schlichten Bitte um Erklärung eines Wortursprungs über die Enträtselung von Abkürzungen (IKEA etwa ist immer noch vielen ein Mysterium) bis hin zu sprachphilosophischen Betrachtungen.
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"O.K. d'abord": Expression propre au langage populaire québécois, utilisée pour souligner l'approbation à quelque chose et qui signifie : "ça va comme ça" ou encore "dans ces conditions, j'accepte".
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"Okey-doke" is student slang first attested 1932. Greek immigrants to America who returned home early 20c. having picked up U.S. speech mannerisms were known in Greece as "okay-boys", among other things.
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Alles o.k., Corky (USA 1989-1993) | California Okay (USA 1977) | K.O. - O.K. (D 1977-1980) | O.K. Crackerby! (USA 1965-1966) | Okay S.I.R. (D 1973-1974)
O.k. - Was bedeutet die Abkürzung o.k. und wo kommt sie her?
Kessler 2010 Okay - Die Bedeutung eines Wortes zwischen Schriftlichkeit und Mündlichkeit
Most common word in the world!
Happy birthday "OK": the world's most-popular word turns 172
Mar 22, 2011 6:30 pm by debaron@illinois.edu
By rights, "OK" should not have become the world's most popular word. It was first used as a joke in the Boston Morning Post on March 23, 1839, a shortening of the phrase "oll korrect", itself an incorrect spelling of "all correct". The joke should have run its course, and "OK" should have been forgotten, just like we forgot the other initialisms appearing in newspapers at the time, such as "O.F.M", "Our First Men", "A.R.", "all right", "O.W.", "oll wright", "K.G.", "know good", and "K.Y.", "know yuse". Instead, here we are celebrating OK's 172nd birthday, wondering why the word became a lexical universal instead of a one day wonder.
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Okay (Dänemark 2002)
READ NOT OK.
The recent obituaries for Allen Walker Read focused on his claims for the etymology of "O.K." as an acronym for "Old Kinderhook" [or "oll korrect"]; he promoted these claims so assiduously that they have made their way into most dictionaries....
Most Recognized Word on the Planet: OK or O.K. or Okay
U.S. President Martin Van Buren (A.D. 1837-1841) was born in "Old Kinderhook", New York. His nickname, "Old Kinderhook", was incorporated into his campaign slogan ("Old Kinderhook is O.K.") and O.K. Democratic Clubs sprung up around the young nation. Van Buren was a founding member of the Democratic Party. (He was overwhelmingly defeated by the Whigs in his re-election attempt in 1840.)
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O. K., Okay - D’où vient O. K. (Okay) ? Les explications ne manquent pas, mais n’ont-elles pas été réinventées artificiellement ?
- Alan Metcalf on CBS talking about "okay" Cohen, Gerald Leonard
- Alan Metcalf on CBS talking about "okay" Arnold Zwicky
- Alan Metcalf on CBS talking about "okay" Arnold Zwicky
- Alan Metcalf on CBS talking about "okay" Tom Zurinskas
- Early use of "O.K.=all correct" --not an antedating sclements at NEO.RR.COM
- Early use of "O.K.=all correct" --not an antedating Shapiro, Fred
- "O.K." in Green's Dictionary of Slang Shapiro, Fred
- "O.K." in Green's Dictionary of Slang Jonathan Lighter
- "O.K." in Green's Dictionary of Slang Jonathan Lighter
- "O.K." in Green's Dictionary of Slang Victor Steinbok
- "O.K." in Green's Dictionary of Slang Jonathan Lighter
FW: "OK" cites in 1839 Cohen, Gerald Leonard
NY Times item on origin of "O.K." Cohen, Gerald Leonard
"o. K." explained, 1841 George Thompson
- "OK" Chef symbol (Chicago Tribune, June 3, 1917) Bapopik
- "OK" Chef symbol (C hicago Tribune, June 3, 1917) RonButters
- "OK" Chef symbol (C hicago Tribune, June 3, 1917) Jonathan Lighter
Radio Glossary (1935), with hand "OK" sign, "Peace" sign Bapopik
O.K. on NPR Laurence Horn
- O.K. Clark Whelton
- O.K. Richard Gage
- O.K. Fred Shapiro
- O.K. Fred Shapiro
- O.K. FRITZ JUENGLING
[Bapopik : Fwd: O.K. sign in Ecuador] Jesse Sheidlower
O.K. sign; Trigger Bapopik
- "O. K." sign Bapopik
- "O. K." sign GEORGE THOMPSON
- "O. K." sign GSCole
- "O. K." sign Peter A. McGraw
- "O. K." sign Douglas G. Wilson
- "O. K." sign Gregory {Greg} Downing
- "O. K." sign Dennis R. Preston
- "O. K." sign Peter A. McGraw
- "O. K." sign Karl J. Krahnke
- "O. K." sign Jan Ivarsson
- "O. K." sign GSCole
- "O. K." sign James Smith
- "O. K." sign emckean at ENTERACT.COM
- "O. K." sign GEORGE THOMPSON
- O.K.; Take-Out; Heroes Bapopik
- O. K. sign Grant Barrett
- O. K. sign Mark A. Mandel
- O. K. sign Mark A. Mandel
- O. K. sign Bob Fitzke
- "OK" sign in American Restaurant Magazine Bapopik
- "OK" sign in the food industry Bapopik
Andrew Jackson and O.K. AAllan
- Dark continent; Rock sliding; O.K.; Monkeygland; another glossary Bapopik
- Dark continent; Rock sliding; O.K.; Monkeygland; another glossary Peter McGraw
Schriftfamilien namens "Okay":
- Okay Schriftfamilie (Okaycat, 5 Schriftschnitte)
- Okay Schriftfamilie (Assorted Collection, 1 Schriftschnitt)
- Okaytext Schriftfamilie (Okaycat, 2 Schriftschnitte)
Which one is correct: "O.K.", "OK", "ok", or "okay"?
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In honor of the 182nd anniversary of the first-ever appearance in print of "O.K." (in The Boston Morning Post) I am here to start an internet copyediting war. As you can see, the original "O.K." was very clearly an acronym, in this case of "oll korrect", a popular slang misspelling of "all correct". As with most language that drifts into common usage, the origins of "O.K." slowly receded from collective awareness and the word began to assume different shapes and sizes: the slightly more streamlined and dashing "OK"; the drawling and onomatopoetic "okay"; the abrupt and minimalist "ok".
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Where does "OK" come from?
Written by Stan Carey
Last month I looked at the variant spelling alright. Its synonym "OK" is a more complicated animal in some ways. It’s one of the most common words in English and has been borrowed into many other languages. Yet its origins are peculiar and have attracted a huge amount of speculation. "OK", let’s dive in.
"OK" comes in many forms, "OK" and "okay" being the most popular. Alongside them there is "O.K." and "o.k.", which are "O.K." too, though in less formal contexts the full stops may seem fussy or old-fashioned. Lowercase "ok" is not suitable for formal prose but is perfectly "okay" in casual contexts. "Mkay" is common in speech, as is the abbreviation "K" or "k" – sometimes spelled out as "kay" or "’kay". And there are rarer forms like "okey", "okeh", and "oke".
Historically there was much uncertainty and debate about where "OK" came from. Was it from Choctaw "okeh", meaning "it is" or "it is so", or from a mishearing of Scots "och aye"? How about French "au quai" "to the dock", or the Haiti port "Aux Cayes"? Finnish "oikea" means "correct" – could that be it? Or Greek "óla kalá" "all good"? Was it short for "Old Kinderhook", the nickname of US politician Martin Van Buren?
There have been so many suggestions and hypotheses that there’s a lengthy Wikipedia page devoted to all the possibilities. And while each origin story has had its supporters, they all lack persuasive evidence – except one, the case for which was laid out in a series of articles in the 1960s by the American etymologist Allen Walker Read. He showed that "OK" was based on a running joke among journalists in Boston in the 19th century, a kind of fad for abbreviating certain phrases and sometimes misspelling them, like "NS" for "nuff said" and "OW" for "oll wright2 ("all right"). In a similar vein, "OK" was short for "oll korrect" ("all correct").
Most of these abbreviations were short-lived, but "OK" bucked the trend and took on a life of its own. Why it survived when others didn’t is a more complicated story, but it was helped by the "Old Kinderhook" connection – campaigners used it in political slogans for Van Buren, newspapers kept playing with it, and the public found it useful and adopted it. From there it spread around the US and beyond. The whole story is recounted in Allan Metcalf’s book "OK: The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word".
"OK" is everywhere now – in daily speech, novels, emails and academic texts, in polls and signs, in magazine and song titles. We say "OK Google" to address our phone’s virtual assistant. We use it to convey acceptance, delight, scepticism, decisiveness, and countless other states of mind. And that’s A - "OK".
The magic button
What's the Real Origin of "OK"?
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The truth about OK, as Allan Metcalf, the author of OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word, puts it, is that it was "born as a lame joke perpetrated by a newspaper editor in 1839." This is not just Metcalf's opinion or a half remembered story he once heard, as most OK stories are. His book is based in the thorough scholarship of Allen Walker Read, a Columbia professor who for years scoured historical sources for evidence about OK, and published his findings in a series of journal articles in 1963 to 1964.
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The Hilarious History of 'OK'
The English language's most successful export is a joke
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"okayism"Steven M. Deyo
- 1. "I'm okay, you're okay" mentality sans pro- or con- pop psychology connotations
- 2. disgustingly overagreeable attitudes salespersons and "waitrons"
O.K.: Abkürzung für "Ottfried König", Medailleur zu Moskau 1718 - 1724; auch: K.O.
Pourquoi dit-on 'O.K.' ?
Hartmut Blessing hat folgende Erklärungsvarianten gesammelt:
- nordamerikanische Indianersprache algonkin "okeh" = Zustimmung, Gruß
- "all correct" falsch geschrieben
- OK-Club (Old Kinderhook Club)
- Hervorragender Rum aus den Kolonien wurden mit "aux cayes" = "an den Kais", gesprochen "ok" bezeichnet
- "OK" = "zero killed"
- griech. "óla kalá" = dt. "alles schön"
sein O.K. / Okay geben | Okay, Okay! | Das ist okay / o.k. | Okidok! Okidoki! | Okidok! Okidoki!
"OK" or "O.K." "okay"
Houston, Whitney: It's not right but it's okay
"O.K.", also accepted as "OK", is another of the several common English words whose etymologies have been hotly debated. ...
"Okay", "O.K." ist einer der Etymologie-Rekordhalter:
- In der Indianersprache "Algonkin" bedeutet "okeh" eine Zustimmung oder einen Gruß.
- Nach anderen soll der amerikanische Präsident Andrew Jackson (1829-37) - wahlweise auch ein deutscher Drucker in Amerika - die Anfangsbuchstaben für "all correct" falsch geschrieben haben.
- Wieder andere meinen, das Wort soll von US-Präsident Martin Van Buren (1837-41) als Werbung für den "OK-Club" ("Old Kinderhook") verwendet worden sein.
- Noch andere glauben, damit habe man ausgezeichneten Rum aus den Kolonien, "aux cayes" ("an den Kais"), bezeichnet. Der soll so gut gewesen sein, daß man dies auf andere Dinge übertrug.
- Nach "Kluge, Etymologisches Wörterbuch" erschien es zuerst 1839 in der "Boston Morning Post".
- Dann gibt es noch diese Legende: Im Krieg wurden die Verluste und Verwundeten des Tages auf einer Tafel festgehalten. Dabei stand "killed" ("K" abgekürzt) für einen Verlust. Die besten Resultate waren natürlich "0 Killed - OK", keine eigenen Verluste. Dies sprach sich "Oh kay" und wurde zum Synonym für Erfreuliches, im Sinne von "Alles in Ordnung".
- Eine weitere Deutung wäre das griechische "ola kala" - eine wortwörtliche Analogie.
- Und es gibt sicher noch weit mehr als diese sieben Etymologien...
It's Okay (One Blood) - by The Game feat Junior Reid
I'm Not Okay (I Promise) - by My Chemical Romance
Okay - by Nivea w/ Lil Jon & YoungBloodZ
It's Not Right But It's Okay - by Whitney Houston
It's O.K. - by The Beach Boys
"B-Okay": One step below A-Okay, meaning not perfect, but you're alright.
OKAY | Okay Abbott | okay bye | Okay bye! | OKAY cool | okay dokey | Okay great | okay hodges | Okay Jared | okay kay | okay kinds | Okay Krista | okay looking | Okay Mom | okay pants | | okay then | okay then... | Okay! | okay, fine | Okay, Steve | okay, terrific | Okay... | okay? | okaya | okaybye
25 February 2010 - Words and Their Stories: Where Did 'OK' Come From? - A look at what may be the most commonly used word in the world.
October 24, 2002 - Allen Walker Read / 'O.K.': A tribute to a linguistic sleuth who died at the age of 96; he devoted his life to tracking down the origins of American speech - including "O.K."
Warum sagen wir eigentlich "O.K."?
"Okay", auch "OK", "O.K." ist ein umgangssprachliches Wort aus dem Amerikanischen Englisch das so viel wie "(alles) in Ordnung" bedeutet (Abk. i. O.).
Der Ausdruck gilt als das bekannteste Wort der Welt und wird in verschiedensten Sprachen - auch im Deutschen - umgangssprachlich verwendet. Die Herkunft dieses Wortes wurde lange von Sprachwissenschaftlern erforscht und diskutiert, bis der US-amerikanische Etymologe Allen Walker Read 1963 und 1964 in einer Reihe von Artikeln in der Zeitschrift American Speech nachweisen konnte, dass es sich um eine Art Sprachwitz handelt: eine absichtliche Falschschreibung bzw. mehr phonemische Schreibung ("oll korrekt") der Abkürzung für "all correct" (wörtlich "alles richtig"), in der eben nichts richtig ist. Es existiert jedoch eine große Anzahl von Volksetymologien.
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Most frequently spoken word on the Planet:
O.K. Still one of the few examples where a person's initial's live on to become a word. (In this case, antebellum president Martin Van Buren, who was born in Old Kinderhook, New York; his nickname, Old Kinderhook, quickly evolved to O.K.) An alternate derivation suggests a play on the dialectal pronunciations of "all correct" by editors of the Boston Post in 1839
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Most frequently spoken word on the Planet:
1. OK Still the most popular word in languages around the world. "OK" originated in a joke in the 1830's, spelled "oll korrekt" in Boston newspapers, the joke being, both words were incorrect. It became so popular, that it was soon abbreviated to simply "O. K." Despite its popularity, the word would have fallen by the wayside had not Martin van Buren, called "Old Kinderhook" for being born in Kinderhook, N.Y. used it in his presidential reelection campaign of 1840. So don't "misunderestimate" the impact of presidential usage on the growth of our vocabulary. It is also spelled "okay."
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a-okay
okay
okayed
okaying
okayish
okayness
okays
Most frequently spoken word on the Planet:
1. OK Still the most popular word in languages around the world. "OK" originated in a joke in the 1830's, spelled "oll korrekt" in Boston newspapers, the joke being, both words were incorrect. It became so popular, that it was soon abbreviated to simply "O. K." Despite its popularity, the word would have fallen by the wayside had not Martin van Buren, called "Old Kinderhook" for being born in Kinderhook, N.Y. used it in his presidential reelection campaign of 1840. So don't "misunderestimate" the impact of presidential usage on the growth of our vocabulary. It is also spelled "okay."
Oll korrect
"OK" (= okay) war ursprünglich die Abkürzung für den verballhornten englischen Ausdruck "oll korrect" - Stimmt's?
Stimmt. Jedenfalls ist dies die von den meisten Anglisten als gültig anerkannte etymologische Ableitung. Sie geht auf Allen Walker Read zurück, einen angesehenen Professor der Columbia University, der sie am 19. Juli 1941 im Saturday Review of Literature zum erstenmal veröffentlichte.
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stands for "pulse-modulated coherent Doppler-effect X-band pulse-repetition synthetic-array pulse compression lobe planar array" (from Willard Espy).
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It is said to be the most frequently spoken (or typed) word on the planet, more common than an infant's first word "ma" or the ever-present beverage "Coke". It was even the first word spoken on the moon. It is "OK" - the most ubiquitous and invisible of American expressions, one used countless times every day. Yet few of us know the hidden history of "OK" - how it was coined, what it stood for, and the amazing extent of its influence.
Allan Metcalf, a renowned popular writer on language, here traces the evolution of America's most popular word, writing with brevity and wit, and ranging across American history with colorful portraits of the nooks and crannies in which "OK" survived and prospered. He describes how "OK" was born as a lame joke in a newspaper article in 1839 - used as a supposedly humorous abbreviation for "oll korrect" (ie. "all correct") - but should have died a quick death, as most clever coinages do. But "OK" was swept along in a nineteenth-century fad for abbreviations, was appropriated by a presidential campaign (one of the candidates being called "Old Kinderhook"), and finally was picked up by operators of the telegraph. Over the next century and a half, it established a firm toehold in the American lexicon, and eventually became embedded in pop culture, from the "I'm OK, You're OK" of 1970's transactional analysis, to Ned Flanders' absurd "Okeley Dokeley " Indeed, "OK" became emblematic of a uniquely American attitude, and is one of our most successful global exports.
Allan Metcalf is Professor of English at MacMurray College and Executive Secretary of the American Dialect Society. He is the author of many other books on language, including most recently Presidential Voices: "Speaking Styles from George Washington to George W. Bush" (2004). He participates in the "Lingua Franca" blog of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
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In his own words, here is Allan Metcalf's Book Notes music playlist for his book, "OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word":
OK. Is there any other expression so common, so necessary to everyday dealings, as "OK"? It's the greatest word ever invented in America and our most successful export, known and used around the world.
You could write a book about "OK". I just did – it's called "OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word", published by Oxford University Press in October 2010. And "OK" is indeed the greatest. From its awkward beginning in an 1839 Boston newspaper as a dumb joke (abbreviation for "all correct"), through a series of improbable accidents, "OK" managed to overcome its humble origin to become arguably the most important word in our language.
And yet, though it expresses a distinctive American attitude and is on everyone's lips, "OK" is rare in music. That's because "OK" is, frankly, not very musical. It's just . . . "OK".
Music stirs the emotions — happiness, heartbreak, enthusiasm, despair, love, lust, hate. In the words that go with the music, you want something that expresses emotion, or something that soothes it. But "OK" is passionless, neither exciting nor calm, just neutral. It doesn't imply either joy or sorrow, agitation or tranquility, only that something is satisfactory. Even "yes" and "no" have more passion than "OK". That's why we use "OK" so often, just to get through the routine business of the day. Very few of us are passionate all the time.
But there are musicians who discover musical potential in "OK". Here is a baker's dozen of them, each "OK" in their own way. And it's appropriate to get going with an "OK", go!
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