 20 Common Acronyms in English from EspressoEnglish.net An acronym is a word formed by the initial letters of two or more words. For example, UN is an acronym for United Nations. Some people are even known by acronyms, such as JFK for former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, or CFO for a company's chief financial officer. We usually pronounce acronyms by saying each of their letters separately. Do you know these common acronyms in English? Aka means also known as, for example, Stephanie Joanne Angelina Germanata, a.k.a. Lady Gaga, is one of the biggest pop stars of the 21st century. B-L-T means bacon, lettuce, and tomato. This refers to a type of sandwich. For example, do you want to tune a sandwich or a B-L-T? B-Y-O-B means bring your own booze. Booze is a slang word for alcohol, so this means you should bring your own alcohol to a party or a social event. For example, the party starts at 8, B-Y-O-B. C-E-O stands for Chief Executive Officer, the president of a company or organization. For example, the CEO of that company makes a million dollars a year. D-I-Y stands for Do It Yourself. For example, Pam would rather buy something ready-made than do a D-I-Y project. E-R stands for Emergency Room of a Hospital. For example, after the car accident the victims were rushed to the E-R. E-T-A stands for Estimated Time of Arrival. For example, what's the E-T-A on the shipment of the new equipment? F-Y-I means for your information. For example, F-Y-I, the bank is closed tomorrow because it's a holiday, so you might want to make your deposit today. G-D-P stands for Gross Domestic Product. That's the value of all the products and services produced by a country in a year. It is a measure of the size of the country's economy. For example, China currently has the world's second largest GDP. H-Q stands for Headquarters. That's a center of operations or administration. For example, the company has offices throughout the country, but its H-Q is located in the capital. H-R stands for Human Resources. That's the department of a company that is concerned with employee relations, hiring, dismissal, etc. For example, my coworker was sexually harassing me and I had to complain to H-R. M-I-A stands for Missing in Action, used for members of the military who disappear during combat or a mission and whose status is unknown. For example, five soldiers are M-I-A after a surprise attack destroyed the military base. P-R stands for Public Relations. That's the practice of distributing information to the public and the media. For example, the nonprofit organization hired a specialist to take care of P-R. R-I-P. That's from a Latin phrase which means rest in peace. We use it for someone who has died. R-N stands for Registered Nurse. For example, after her kids graduated and left home, Joanne went back to school to pursue her dream of becoming an R-N. T-B-A means to be announced. For example, the conference will be held October 15th through 19th, location T-B-A. T-G-I-F means thank God it's Friday. For example, I've worked until 9 p.m. every day this week, T-G-I-F. U-F-O stands for Unidentified Flying Object. It is often used to refer to possible alien spaceships. V-I-P stands for Very Important Person. For example, tickets to the V-I-P section of the nightclub cost three times as much. To continue improving your English vocabulary, take the Vocabulary Builder course at espressoenglish.net. It will help you express yourself more fluently in English by teaching you hundreds and hundreds of common words. Visit espressoenglish.net to take a free sample lesson and sign up for the Vocabulary Builder course.