recursive acronym

recursive acronym
n.
An acronym that refers to itself, usually by incorporating the acronym as the first word in the expanded phrase.
Example Citation:
"Dear Sir, Since I see a side-bar on recursive acronyms (October EXE p. 34), it occurs to me that your readers may enjoy the following, which I modestly offer as the ultimate: TIARA (TIARA is a recursive acronym)."
— Chris Smithies, "Recursive acronyms," EXE, November 1, 1996
Earliest Citation:
"Mark of the Unicorn, the program's publisher, sold it in the form of an editor named MINCE (a recursive acronym for 'MINCE Is Not Complete EMACS') and a print formatter called Scribble."
— Steve King, "Final Word II Packs a Punch," InfoWorld, April 28, 1986
Notes:
Recursive acronyms are found almost exclusively in computing circles. Here are some examples:
WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator)
GNU (GNU's Not Unix!)
EINE (EINE Is Not EMACS)
ZWEI (ZWEI Was EINE Initially)
EMACS (EMACS Makes A Computer Slow)
A "real world" example is VISA (VISA International Service Association).
Related Word:
Category:
if you take the example VISA (VISA International Service Association).
since it relates to itself how did they come up with the term 'VISA' in the first place.
a chicken and the egg situation.

New words. 2013.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

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