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{{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 expanding 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 letters 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 "
{{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
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>
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<!-- 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, 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}}
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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}} (
Similarly, the distress signal [[SOS]] is often believed to be an abbreviation for "
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}}
▲In vast contrast to the word [[wikt:posh|''posh'']]{{anchor|POSH}} would be the word [[wikt:chav|''chav'']]{{anchor|CHAV}}, which is a derogatory term for a working-class youth. This word is probably of Angloromani 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}}</ref>
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>
▲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, 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}}</ref>
==See also==
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