Abbreviations and acronyms

Romanian short forms are not all punctuated alike. A word abbreviation such as prof. (professor) normally uses a period, while an institutional acronym such as UE (European Union) and a unit symbol such as km (kilometre) normally do not. The standard form depends on what the short form represents and on its established entry.

How do abbreviations and acronyms differ in Romanian writing?

An abbreviation shortens a word or phrase; an acronym is a short form built from initial letters or parts of a name and used as a written unit. For spelling, first identify the type, then copy the current standard form rather than transferring English punctuation habits.

When does an abbreviation take a period?

Use the period shown by the normative form: it is usually required when the abbreviation does not preserve the last letter of the full word, but some traditional forms preserve that letter and still take a period.

• Abbreviations that stop before the full word's last letter normally take a final period: acad. (academician), prof. (professor), nr. (number), vol. (volume), and etc. (and so on).
• Some traditional abbreviations retain the final letter but still use a period: dr. (doctor), lt. (lieutenant), and mr. (major). These forms are learned as established spellings, not generated by one universal formula.
• Some retained-letter forms have no period: dl (Mr), dna (Mrs), vs (versus), and cca (approximately). Do not add a period just because the form is short.
• In a compact initial sequence, an internal period is normally closed up: B.P. Hasdeu. A space can instead separate abbreviated words in a phrase: nr. crt. (current number). Keep the exact established spacing of familiar expressions such as ș.a. (and others) and ș.a.m.d. (and so on).

How are acronyms and institutional names written?

Many Romanian institutional acronyms are written in capitals without periods: UE (European Union), ONU (United Nations), BNR (National Bank of Romania), ONG (nongovernmental organization), and TVA (value-added tax). The no-period form is economical and is the neutral choice for these current examples.

• DOOM3 records internal periods as optional in some nationally familiar forms, including C.F.R., S.U.A., and U.E.; it also recommends the more economical forms CFR, SUA, and UE for this group.
• Some forms retain periods by tradition, for example P.S. (postscript) and P.P.S. (post-postscript). Treat them as dictionary forms rather than applying the no-period pattern mechanically.
• Acronyms that have become ordinary common nouns can be written in lowercase without periods, as in laser, radar, and aragaz. Their lexical status matters more than the fact that they once came from a longer expression.
• Capitalization is part of the convention: do not turn every abbreviation into capitals, and do not lowercase a proper-name acronym. For the broader role of uppercase Romanian letters, see capitalization.

How do Romanian endings attach to an abbreviation?

When an abbreviation or symbol takes a Romanian plural ending or definite article, attach the ending with a hyphen. Keep the abbreviation's own periods and capitalization unchanged.

This hyphen is the same writing principle used when Romanian adds an ending to certain foreign or letter-based forms. It is not a license to change DVD into DVDs or to write DVDul as one unmarked string; see the core hyphen patterns.

What happens to punctuation in a sentence?

A period that belongs to an abbreviation remains part of that abbreviation, but it is not doubled when the abbreviation ends the sentence. A final period is followed by a normal space when another word follows.

• Before another word, keep the space after the abbreviation: Am discutat cu prof. Ionescu. (I spoke with Professor Ionescu.)
• At the end of a sentence, do not add a second period: Documentul are 3 p. (The document is 3 pages long.) The period after p serves both the abbreviation and the sentence ending.
• Measurement symbols are different: write 5 km, 2 kg, and 12 cm without periods. These symbols follow technical conventions and keep their prescribed letter case.
• If a short form includes Romanian letters, keep their marks: ș.a., î.e.n. (before our era), and Ț where the abbreviation's established capitalization requires it. Missing marks are spelling errors, not alternate punctuation. For the letters themselves, see Romanian diacritics.

Which register and usage choices matter?

Neutral contemporary Standard Romanian uses the current normative form in formal, academic, administrative, and ordinary edited writing. Specialized fields may use symbols or international forms with their own conventions, while a familiar acronym can be clear to specialists but obscure to a general reader. In a document for a broad audience, spelling out an unfamiliar acronym at first mention is a clarity choice, not a different Romanian grammar rule.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not use one period rule for every short form: prof. and UE follow different conventions.
• Do not insert spaces inside a compact acronym or between its internal letters: write BNR, not B N R.
• Do not add a period to a unit symbol: write 10 km, not 10 km. when the symbol is not ending the sentence.
• Do not attach a Romanian article or plural directly to the letters: write DVD-ul and DVD-uri, not DVDul or DVDuri.
• Do not double a period when an abbreviation ends the sentence: write Documentul are 3 p., not Documentul are 3 p..