Difference Between Acronym and Acrostic

Acronyms and acrostics are often confused with each other, but they are very different. An acronym is pronounced as the first letter of a phrase, but an acrostic has no pronunciation at all. Acronyms are always pronounceable and are made from the letters of a phrase, while acrostics might not be pronounceable or made from all the letters in a phrase.

Acronym

An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of other words or phrases. It’s pronounced as if it were a single word, and made from the first letters of each individual word in that phrase. Examples include NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

You can also create an acronym by using your own initials to form something memorable and meaningful–like NFL’s “No Fun League” or POTUS’ “President Of The United States.”

Acrostic

Acrostic is a poem or song whose first letter of each line or stanza spells out a word or phrase. The word “acrostic” comes from the Greek word for “head.”

The first letter of each line or stanza may spell out a word or phrase, but this isn’t required. A classic example is “Peter Piper Picked A Peck Of Pickled Peppers” (with an ‘m’ added as an extra letter).

Acronyms are always pronounceable, and are made from the letters of a phrase. Acrostics are not always pronounceable, and are not necessarily made of all the letters in a phrase.

Acronyms are always pronounceable and made from the letters of a phrase. Acrostics, on the other hand, are not always pronounceable, but they do contain all the letters in their respective phrases. For example:

• NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It can be pronounced “N-A-S-A.”
• The word ‘acrostic’ comes from the Greek word for ‘top line’. An acrostic poem has lines that begin with letters in order (e.g., abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz). In this case, it would be an alphabetical poem rather than one based on syllables or words as well as being written vertically instead of horizontally like most poetry formats today.”

Now that you know the difference between an acronym and an acrostic, you can impress your friends with your newfound knowledge. If they ask if you know what “LOL” stands for in a text message, tell them it’s an acronym! And if they ask why so many people seem obsessed with taking selfies nowadays (which is really just as annoying as it sounds), explain that this trend started with people wanting to take pictures of themselves without having anyone else around–so they would use mirrors instead.