Term for a word based on an initialism

Asked Jan 14 '24 at 07:59

Active Jan 14 '24 at 07:59

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I recently came across the word 'geeb', a pronunciation and "wordification" of 'GB', itself an initialism of 'gravity bong'. It reminded me of 'okay', which has a similar relationship with 'OK', an ititialism of 'Oll Korrect'.

I was wondering if there was a term for a word that is formed from the pronunciation of the letters in an initialism? Or if there's a term for that process?

Note: this is distinct from an acronym in that an acronym is the pronunciation of letters as a word, whereas I'm asking about pronouncing the names of letters as a word (e.g. 'NASA' as /næ.sə/ vs /ɛn.ɛɪ.ɛs.ɛɪ/).

asked Jan 14 '24 at 07:59

donotread123

See this thread. – Kate Bunting Jan 14 '24 at 08:49
There probably aren't enough to have prompted the feeling that a term is needed. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 14 '24 at 10:28
There's a question on hybrids like JPEG, VTOL, HVAC which don't seem to have a distinct term. Also shortened versions like "Beeb" /bi:b/ for BBC. The OED has an entry on Beeb which says "Formed within English, by clipping or shortening. Etymon: B.B.C. n. Representing a contraction of B.B.C. n. (the British Broadcasting Corporation)." – Stuart F Jan 14 '24 at 13:13
Veepee and deejay are a couple more. – Phil Sweet Jan 15 '24 at 00:38
GB would be pronounced jeebee — not jeeb. – Tinfoil Hat Jan 15 '24 at 02:19
"Jeep" is an oldie, it comes from GP, for General Purpose vehicle. – Barmar Jan 15 '24 at 22:16
@PhilSweet A better example would be "Veep", a common shortening of Veepee (as in the TV show title). – Barmar Jan 15 '24 at 22:17

Term for a word based on an initialism

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