backronym

back·ro·nym

(băk′rə-nĭm′)

n.

1. An acronym coined by constructing a phrase from words whose initial letters spell an existing word or name. For example, wiki is a backronym when it is described as standing for what I know is because wiki is a previously existing word whose original meaning is "collaborative website."

2. The phrase whose initial letters spell out such a word.

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[Blend of back and acronym.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

backronym

The result of taking an existing word (which is not an acronym) or an existing acronym and using each letter of that word or acronym as the initial letter of the words in a new phrase or sentence. In other words changing the meaning of an existing acronym by making it stand for something else or treating a real word as if it were an acronym.

Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited

Translations

rétroacronyme