noun
An acronym coined from an existing word or name. For example, wiki is a backronym when used for what I know is because wiki is a word whose original meaning is “collaborative website.”
Origin of backronym
Blend of back 1 acronymbackronym
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"backronym." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/backronym>.
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backronym. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/backronym
Noun
(plural backronyms)
- A word that is either not an acronym but is taken to be one and for which a full form is invented by back-formation, or is an acronym and for which an alternative full form is invented by back-formation.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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"backronym." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/backronym>.
APA Style
backronym. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/backronym
backronym - Computer Definition
The treatment of a word as an acronym even though it is not. For example, ping is a utility used to test a path from one host computer to another across an IP-based network in what is essentially a command to echo the packet from the remote host computer back to the originating host. Ping is a word, not an acronym. However, Dr. David L. Mills reverse-engineered ping into an acronym for packet Internet groper and a great many people believe that was the original meaning. It was not. See also acronym, anacronym, and ping.
Webster's New World Telecom Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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"backronym." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/backronym>.
APA Style
backronym. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/backronym
(BACKward acRONYM) A reverse acronym. Instead of turning a multi-word term into letters, such as "central processing unit" into CPU, a given set of letters becomes a multi-word term. For example, TEMPEST was a code name that was turned into "Telecommunications Electronics Material Protected from Emanating Spurious Transmissions." DVD originally meant "digital video disc" but was later changed to "digital versatile disc." See acronym.
Computer Desktop Encyclopedia THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher. © 1981-2017 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"backronym." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/backronym>.
APA Style
backronym. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/backronym
