The word for today is…
abbreviation (noun) -
1: a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in place of the whole word or phrase
2: the act or result of abbreviating something : abridgment
Source : Merriam-Webster
Etymology : An abbreviation is a shortened form of a written word or phrase. Abbreviations may be used to save space and time, to avoid repetition of long words and phrases, or simply to conform to conventional usage. The styling of abbreviations is inconsistent and arbitrary and includes many possible variations. Some abbreviations are formed by omitting all but the first few letters of a word; such abbreviations usually end in a period: Oct. for October, univ. for university, and cont. for continued. Other abbreviations are formed by omitting letters from the middle of the word and usually also end in a period: govt. for government, Dr. for Doctor. Acronyms are abbreviations formed from the initial letters of an expanded phrase and usually do not include periods: PR for public relations, CEO for chief executive officer, and BTW for by the way. Some acronyms are pronounced as words: NATO for North Atlantic Treaty Organization for example. Although some people assert that all acronyms not pronounced as words, such as AT for Auckland Transport, should be referred to as initialisms, the term acronym is in fact applied to both.
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