Common, Uncommon and Specialized

Abbreviations
Some Common Abbreviations

abbr. - abbreviation, abbreviated abr. - abridged, abridgment

acad. - academic, academy adj. - adjective, adjourned, adjustment

adm. - administration, admiral adv. - adverb

agr. / agri. / agric. - agricultural, agriculture anon. - anonymous

app. - appended, appendix, appointed approx. - approximately

assn. - association b. - base, bass, bat, battery, bay, book, born, brother

bact. - bacteria, bacteriology bap. - baptized

bib. - Bible, biblical bibliog. - bibliographer, bibliography, bibliographic

biog. - biographer, biography, biographical biol. - biology

bk. - bank, block, book bkg. - banking

bldg. - building blvd. - boulevard

bot. - botanical, botany bp. - bishop

brig. - brigade, brigadier brig. gen. - brigadier general

bro. - brother bur. - bureaus

c.a. - chartered accountant, chief accountant,

commercial agent, consular agent, controller of cal. - calendar, caliber, small calorie
accounts

cap. - capital, capitalize capt. - captain

cath. - cathedral cc / cc. / c.c. - cubic centimeters

cent. - centigrade, centimeter, central, century cf. - Latin confer = compare

ch. - chaplain, chapter, check (chess), chief, child,

chap. - chaplain, chapter
children, Latin chirurgia = surgery, church

chem. - chemical, chemist, chemistry chm. - chairman, checkmate (chess)

chron. - chronology cir. /circ. - circular, Latin circa = about

cit. - citation, cited, citizen civ. - civil, civilian

clk. - clerk cm / cm. - centimeter(s)

co. - company, county c.o. / c/o - care of, carried over

col. - collected, collector, college, colonel, colonial,

c.o.d. - cash on delivery, collect on delivery
colony, column

com. - comedy, command, commandant, commerce,

colloq. - colloquial, colloquialism commercial, commission(er), committee,
commodore, common, communication, community

comdr. - commander comr. - commissioner

comp. - compiler, compiled by con. - concerto, consolidated, consul

cond. - conductor, conducted by conf. - conference

cong. - congress consol. - consolidated

cont. - containing, contents, continent, continental,

constr. - construction
continue, continued

cont. / contd. - continued corp. - corporal, corporation

cp. - candlepower, compare cpl. - corporal

cr. - credit, creditor, creek crit. - criticism

ct. - carat, cent, court cu. - cubic

d. - dam (pedigrees), date, daughter, day(s), dead,

cwt. - hundredweight
democrat, density, diameter, died

dec. - deceased, declaration, declension, declination,

d. - pence, penny decrease, Italian deprescendo = decreasing in
loudness (music),

def. - definition, definite deg. - degree(s)

dep. - department, departure, deposit, depot, deputy dept. - department, deputy

der. / deriv. - derivation, derivative diag. - diagram

dial. - dialect dict. - dictionary

dim. - Italian diminuendo = diminishing in loudness

dipl. - diplomat, diplomatic
(music)

dir. - director, directed by disc. - discount, discovered

dist. - distinguished, district distr. - distribution, distributed by

div. - dividend, division, divorced dm / dm. - decameter, decimeter

do. - Latin ditto = the same doc. - document

doz. - dozen dpt. - department

dr. - debit, debtor, drachma, dram d.t. - delirium tremens, double time

dup. / dupl. - duplicate dwt. - pennyweight

e / e. - erg, errors (Baseball) ea. - each

eccl. / eccles. - ecclesiastical ecol. - ecology

econ. - economic, economics, economy ed. - edited, edited by, edition, editor

elec. / elect. - electric, electrical, electrician,

e.g. - Latin exempli gratia = for example
electricity

elev. - elevation emp. - emperor, empire, empress

e.m.u. - electromagnetic unit enc. - enclosed

ency. / encyc. / encycl. - encyclopedia eng. - engineer, engineering, engraved

entom. / entomol. - entomologist, entomology esp. - especially

et al. - Latin et alibi = and elsewhere,

est. - established, estimate
Latin et alii, et aliae = and others

et seq. - Latin et sequens = and the following,

etc. - Latin et cetera = and so forth Latin et sequentes or seqentia = and those that
follow

ex. - examined, example exch. - exchange, exchequer

exec. - executive, executor ex lib. - Latin ex libris = from the books of

f. - farad, father, farthing, fathom, feminine, fluid

f - Italian forte = loud (music)
(ounce), folio, following, franc, frequency

fac. / fax - facsimile fed. - federal, federated, federation

fem. - female, feminine ff - Italian fortissimo = very loud (music)

ff. / fol. - folios, following fig. - figure

fin. - finance fl. - florin, flourished, fluid

fn. - footnote fr. - fragment, franc, from

ft = feet, foot ft. - fort

fwd. - foreword, foreword by g / g. / gm - gram

gal / gall. - gallon gaz. - gazette, gazetteer

gen. - gender, genera, general, genus geog. - geographer, geographical, geography

geol. - geologic, geologist, geology geom. - geometric, geometry

gloss. - glossary gov. - governor

govt. - government gr - grain(s), gram(s)

hab. corp. - Latin habeas corpus = that you have the

gram. - grammar, grammarian
body

her. - heraldry hist. - historian, historical, history

hort. - horticultural, horticulture hr - hour(s)

ht. - height ib. / ibid. - Latin ibidem = in the same place

id. - Latin idem = the same i.e. - Latin id est = that is

imp. - imperative, imperial, imports,

illus. - illustrator, illustration, illustrated by
Latin imprimatur = let it be printed

in. - inch, inches inc. - including, income, incorporated

in loc. cit. - Latin in loco citato = in the place cited ins. - inches, insurance

inst. - instant, institute, institution intl. - international

introd. - introduction, introduced by is. - island, isle

jour. - journal jr. - junior

jud. - judicial k. - kilo, kilogram, thousand

kg - kilogram (note: no period after kg) kilo. - kilogram, kilometer

km - kilometer (note: no period after km) kt. - carat

kw - kilowatt (note: no period after kw) l - liter

l, ll - line, lines lab. - laboratory

lang. - language lat. - latitude

lb - Latin libra = pound l.c. - Latin loco citato = in the place cited
lib. - liberal, library, librarian lieut. / lt. - lieutenant

lit. - literally, literary, literature ltd. - limited

m. - male, married, meridian, Latin

lon. / long. - longitude
meridies = noon, meter, mile, minute, month

mach. - machine, machinist mag. - magazine

maj. - major mas. / masc. - masculine

math. - mathematician, mathematics mdse. - merchandise

mech. - mechanical, mechanics med. - medical, medicine, medieval

mem. / memo - Latin memento = remember,

mfg. - manufacturing
memorandum

mfr. - manufacture, manufacturer mg / mg. / mgm - milligram

mgr. - manager mi - miles, mill (note: no period after mi)

misc. - miscellaneous ml / ml. - milliliter

mm - millimeter(s), Latin millia = thousands mo. - month(s)

mod. - moderate, modern ms. / mss. - manuscript, manuscripts

mt. / mts. - mount, mountain, mountains mus. - museum, music, musician

n / nn - note, notes n. - noun

narr. - narrator, narrated by natl. - national

nav. - naval, navigation n.b. - Latin nota bene = mark well, take notice

n.d. - no date of publication neg. - negative

no. - number non seq. - Latin non sequitur = it does not follow

n.p. - no place of publication, no publisher n. pag. - no page number

obit. - obituary obj. - object, objective

op. cit. - Latin opere citato = in the work cited orch. - orchestra, orchestrated by

orig. - original, originally oz. - ounce (Italian abbrev. of onza)

p. / pp. - page, pages par. - paragraph, parallel

pat. /patd. - patent, patented pct. - percent

p.d. - Latin per diem = by the day pen. - peninsular

perf. - performer, performed by philos. - philosopher, philosophy

phys. - physical, physician, physicist, physics pl. - plate, plural

ppd. - postpaid, prepaid pref. - preface, preface by

prin. - principal, principle prod. - produced by, producer, production

pro tem. - Latin pro tempore = for the time being pron. - pronoun, pronunciation

psych. / psychol. - psychological, psychologist,

pseud. - pseudonym
psychology

pt - pint (note: no period after pt) pt. - part, payment, point, port

pub. / publ. - public, publisher, publication, published

pwt - pennyweight (note: no period after pwt)
by

q. - quarto, question qr. - quarter

qt - quart (note: no period after qt) qt. - quiet (slang)

qtd. - quoted ques. - question

quot. - quotation r.b.i. / rbi / RBI - run(s) batted in (Baseball)

quot. - quotation rec. - receipt, recipe, record, recorded

reg. - regent, regiment, region, registered, registrar,

ref. - referee, reference, reformed
regular, regulation

rev. - review, reviewed by, revision, revised, revised

rel. - release
by

riv. - river rpm - revolutions per minute

rps - revolutions per second rpt. - reprint, reprinted by

s. - saint, second, semi-, shilling, silver, sire, solo,

sc. - scene
son, soprano, south

sch. - school sci. - science, scientific, scientist

sculp / sculp. - sculptor, sculptural, sculpture sec - secant, second(s)

sec. / secy. - secretary sec. / sect. - section

ser. - series serg. / sergt. / sgt. - sergeant

[sic.] - thus in the source (exactly as quoted) sing. - singular

 sp. - special, species, specific, specimen, spelling,
sol. - solicitor
spirit

sq. - square, sequence sub. - submarine, substitute, suburb

sup. - superior, supplement, supply, (Latin supra =

subj. - subject, subjective, subjunctive
above), supreme

supt. - superintendent surg. - surgeon, surgery

sym. - symbol, symphony syn. - synonym, synonymous

t. - temperature, tempo, (Latin tempore = in the time

of), tenor, tense (grammar), territory, time, ton(s), tbs. / tbsp. - tablespoon
town, transitive, troy (weight)

tel. - telegram, telegraph, telephone temp. - temperature, temporary

terr. - territory theol. - theologian, theological, theology

topog. - topographical, topography trans. / tr. - translated by, translation, translator

treas. - treasurer, treasury trig. / trigon. - trigonometric, trigonometry

tsp. - teaspoon twp. - township

ult. - ultimate univ. - universal, university

usu. - usually uv - ultraviolet (note: no period after uv)

v. - verb, verse, versus, Latin vide = see, voltage, von

var. - variant
(German name)

vb. - verb vers. - version

vet. - veteran, veterinary viz. - Latin videlicet = namely

vet. - veteran, veterinary vol. - volcano, volume

vox. pop. - Latin vox populi = voice of the people v.p. - vice president, vice principal

vs. / v. - Latin versus = against vs. / vss. - verse, verses

v.s. - Latin vide supra = see above wpm - words per minute

writ. - writer, written by wt - weight (no period after wt)

yd - yard(s) yr - year

zn = zinc
For a complete list of Common Scholarly Abbreviations, please see Section 7.4 in the 6th edition of
the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.

Abbreviations of Degrees

Note: When documenting sources using MLA style, the normal punctuations are omitted for degrees
when used in parentheses, tables, works cited, footnotes, endnotes, etc. For example, B.A. is written as
BA. Other abbreviations retain the periods if applicable, e.g. acad., bib., misc.

Italics = Latin

BA - Bachelor of Arts BBA - Bachelor of Business Administration

BS - Bachelor of Science DA - Doctor of Arts

EdD - Doctor of Education JD - Doctor of Law

LLB - Bachelor of Laws (legum baccalaureus) LLD - Doctor of Laws (legum doctor)

LLM - Master of Laws (legum magister) MA - Master of Arts

MBA - Master of Business Administration MD - Doctor of Medicine (medicinae doctor)

MS - Master of Science PhD - Doctor of Philosophy