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 accounts | cal. - calendar, caliber, small calorie |
| 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, children, Latin chirurgia = surgery, church | chap. - chaplain, chapter |
| 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 |
| c.o.d. - cash on delivery, collect on delivery | col. - collected, collector, college, colonel, colonial, colony, column |
| colloq. - colloquial, colloquialism | com. - comedy, command, commandant, commerce, 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 |
| constr. - construction | cont. - containing, contents, continent, continental, 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 |
| cwt. - hundredweight | d. - dam (pedigrees), date, daughter, day(s), dead, democrat, density, diameter, died |
| d. - pence, penny | dec. - deceased, declaration, declension, declination, 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 (music) | dipl. - diplomat, diplomatic |
| 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 |
| e.g. - Latin exempli gratia = for example | elec. / elect. - electric, electrical, electrician, 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 |
| est. - established, estimate | et al. - Latin et alibi = and elsewhere, Latin et alii, et aliae = and others |
| etc. - Latin et cetera = and so forth | et seq. - Latin et sequens = and the following, 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 - Italian forte = loud (music) | f. - farad, father, farthing, fathom, feminine, fluid (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) |
| gram. - grammar, grammarian | hab. corp. - Latin habeas corpus = that you have the 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 |
| illus. - illustrator, illustration, illustrated by | imp. - imperative, imperial, imports, 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 |
| lon. / long. - longitude | m. - male, married, meridian, Latin 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, memorandum | mfg. - manufacturing |
| 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 |
| pseud. - pseudonym | psych. / psychol. - psychological, psychologist, psychology |
| pt - pint (note: no period after pt) | pt. - part, payment, point, port |
| pub. / publ. - public, publisher, publication, published by | pwt - pennyweight (note: no period after pwt) |
| 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 |
| ref. - referee, reference, reformed | reg. - regent, regiment, region, registered, registrar, regular, regulation |
| rel. - release | rev. - review, reviewed by, revision, revised, revised by |
| riv. - river | rpm - revolutions per minute |
| rps - revolutions per second | rpt. - reprint, reprinted by |
| s. - saint, second, semi-, shilling, silver, sire, solo, son, soprano, south | sc. - scene |
| 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 |
| sol. - solicitor | sp. - special, species, specific, specimen, spelling, spirit |
| sq. - square, sequence | sub. - submarine, substitute, suburb |
| subj. - subject, subjective, subjunctive | sup. - superior, supplement, supply, (Latin supra = 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), town, transitive, troy (weight) | tbs. / tbsp. - tablespoon |
| 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 (German name) | var. - variant |
| 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.
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