Abbreviation vs. Acronym vs. Initialism

Many people are confused with the words abbreviation and acronym and haven't heard or don't know the meaning of initialism and truncation. Even I couldn't distinguished if an abbreviated word is considered as an acronym, initialism or truncation. So, let's learn together.

According to lyberty.com, in writing, an abbreviation is any shortened form of a word or phrase. Note, however, that there are types of abbreviations; the most common being acronyms and initialisms. acronym - (a type of abbreviation) A word formed from the initial parts (letters OR syllables OR arbitrary parts) of a name. Examples: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) initialism - (a type of abbreviation) A group of initial letters used as an abbreviation for a name or expression, each letter being pronounced separately. For example, "BBC" (British Broadcasting Corporation), or "PBS" (Public Broadcasting System). The key difference between an acronym and an initialism is that an acronym forms a new word, while an initalism does not. For example, you say "nay-to" for NATO; this means you are saying a word, as opposed to saying each letter (ehn-ay-tee-oh). So "NATO" is an acronym. But "U.K." is an intialism for United Kindom: you say each letter individually (you don't say "yuk", so you know it's not a word). Also, the periods are a dead-giveaway that's it's an intialism... There are other types of abbreviations as well. Consider, for example, the truncation.... truncation - (a type of abbreviation) An abbreviation of a word consisting only of the first part of the word. Most often used in a context (such as for mail) where certain words must be written (and read) repetitively. Examples: Tues. = Tuesday; Dec. = December; Minn. = Minnesota; Eur = Europe, European So, here's your first test: "HTML": abbreviation, acronym, or initialism? Well, it is an abbreviation, because it's a shortened form of "Hyper-Text Markup Language". But it's not an acronym, because it's not a word! (You can tell, because you don't say "heh-teh-mehl"; you say "aych-tee-ehm-ehl".) And it is, as you may have guessed, an intialism, for the same reason it's not an acronym (you pronounce each letter separately). Source: lyberty.com