LETTER WORD

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language | 1998 | 373 words | Copyright

LETTER WORD, also letter name. A WORD or NAME formed from the letters, usually the first letters, of several other words: BBC from British Broadcasting Corporation, NATO from North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a kind of ABBREVIATION, with two forms: the INITIALISM (BBC pronounced ‘bee-bee-cee’); the ACRONYM (NATO, pronounced ‘Nay-toe’).

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TOM McARTHUR. "LETTER WORD." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

TOM McARTHUR. "LETTER WORD." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-LETTERWORD.html

TOM McARTHUR. "LETTER WORD." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-LETTERWORD.html

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