Latin Abbreviations In English
What Are Abbreviations?
In English texts you must have come across words like: etc., e.g., i.e., am, pm B.C., Ph.D. and so on. Most of my students didn't know how read them correctly or use them in a sentence until we did this lesson. So what are abbreviations? They are short forms of phrases. The abbreviations that we're going to talk about in this post are those that came to the English language from Latin.
Use
There are many short forms of all kinds of phrases that we use in our daily communication. In this lesson we'll divide these Latin based phrases in a few categories for easier memorising.
Abbreviations to speak about TIME
a.m. = Period of the day before noon, morning
Latin – ante meridiem
– When is the meeting? – At 9 a.m. Don’t be late!
p.m. = Period of the day after noon, the afternoon, evening or night
Latin – post meridiem
Last night I worked night shift so I was in bed until 2 pm.
Q.D. = daily
This phrase is used in doctors’ prescriptions to indicate that a medicine is supposed to be taken every day.
Latin – quaque die
B.C. (or BC) = This is not a Latin phrase, it means Before Christ, but it’s good to learn it.
In 330 BC Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great.
A.D. (or AD) = A period in history after Christ
Latin – Anno Domini
Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day 800 AD.
pro tem. = for the time being
Latin – pro tempore
In cities where the mayor is elected by the city’s voters, the mayor pro tem serves as acting mayor in the absence of the mayor. The mayor pro tem is appointed annually by council members.
P.A. = yearly
Latin – per annum
When it comes to contracts, P.A. refers to recurring obligations or those that occur each year throughout an agreement.
Abbreviations to speak about TITLES
Ph.D. (Philosophiae Doctor) = Doctor of Philosophy
M.D. (Medicinae Doctor) = Doctor of Mediciine
Reg. (regina) = Queen
Miscellaneous Abbreviations
e.g. (exempli gratia) = for example
i.e. (id est) = that is
etc. (et cetera) = and so on
R.I.P. (requiescat in pace) = rest in peace
