This week’s Scrabble post addresses some recent questions of yours regarding abbreviations and acronyms and whether they are playable.
When a shortened version of a word comes into common use, it will likely find its way into the Scrabble Dictionary. Keep in mind, however, that an abbreviation you use may not have found its way into the Scrabble dictionary yet, and acronyms, unlike abbreviations, are not playable. Unlike shortened words, acronyms are formed with the initial letters of separate words: NASA for (for National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and IQ (for intelligence quotient).
Here’s a list–by no means a comprensive one–of playable abbreviations:
- ab: an abdominal muscle
- bi: a bisexual
- cig: a cigarette
- flu: influenza
- hic: used to represent a hiccup
- hippo: a hippopotamus
- mono: mononucleosis
- narc: an undercover drug agent
- rec: recreation
- ref: a referee
- rhino: a rhinoceros
- ump: an umpire
- za: pizza
Next Up
Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review the posts on my blog devoted to Scrabble tips, including this one.
Jane Lucas 