An
acronym is an
abbreviation formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. These components may be individual letters (as in
CEO) or parts of words (as in
Benelux and
Ameslan). There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of various names for such abbreviations (see
nomenclature) nor on written usage (see
orthographic styling). In English and most other languages, such abbreviations historically had limited use, but they became much more common in the 20th century. Acronyms are a type of
word formation process, and they are viewed as a subtype of
blending.