anacronym
noun/əˈnæk.ɹə.nɪm/
Etymology Perhaps blend of anachronism + acronym but perhaps an- + acronym, in either case indicating an acronymic word that has lost much of its acronymic identity because people usually no longer focus on the etymonic origin when using the word.
1
An acronym that is usually no longer thought of as such, but instead treated as a regular word and styled in lower case despite its etymological origin.
- When you write about using a waterproof laser pointer while scuba diving, you probably aren’t going to write about “a L.A.S.E.R. pointer for S.C.U.B.A. diving”, because the words laser and scuba are anacronyms.
- Derived terms
- anacronymic
- Related terms
- backronym