Technical Abbreviations and Acronyms
Where would the government, business, medicine, the technical world, an the military be without an ample lexicon of abbreviations and acronyms? The government and military have entire departments dedicated to creating clever (or not so clever) acronyms for programs and systems.
While this list is by no means exhaustive, it does include many of the abbreviations and acronyms that I have run up against in my career. If you have any that should be added, please send me an e-mail.
| A | |
| A | Ampere |
| AC | Alternating Current |
| ACK | Acknowledge |
| ACIA | Asynchronous Communication Interface Adapter |
| ACL | Advanced CMOS Logic |
| A/D | Analog to Digital |
| AF | Audio Frequency |
| AFC | Automatic Frequency Control |
| AGC | Automatic Gain Control |
| AH | Ampere-Hour |
| AI | Artificial Intelligence |
| AKA | Also Known As |
| ALC | Automatic Level Control |
| ALU | Arithmetic Logic Unit |
| A/N | Alphanumeric |
| ANSI | American National Standards Institute |
| ARRL | American Radio Relay League |
| AS | Advanced Schottky |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange |
| ASIC | Application Specific Integrated Circuit |
| ASK | Amplitude Shift Keying |
| ATC | Air Traffic Control |
| AV | Audio/Visual |
| AVC | Automatic Volume Control |
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| B | |
| BASIC | Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code |
| BBD | Bucket Brigade Device |
| BCE | Binary Coded Decimal |
| BEV | Billion Electron Volts |
| BIFET | Bipolar Field-Effect Transistor |
| BJT | Bipolar Junction Transistor |
| BNC | Bayonet Neill-Concelman (connector) |
| BPI | Bits Per Inch |
| BPS | Bits Per Second |
| BTW | By The Way |
| B&W | Black & White |
| BW | BandWidth |
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| C | |
| C | Capacitance |
| CAD | Computer Assisted Design or Computer Aided Drafting |
| CADA | Computer Assisted Design and Analysis |
| CADD | Computer Assisted Design and Development |
| CAE | Computer Assisted Engineering |
| CAM | Computer Assisted Manufacturing |
| CAN | CANcel |
| CAS | Column Address Strobe |
| CATV | CAble TeleVision |
| CB | Citizens Band |
| CBI | Complementary BInary or Computer Based Instruction |
| CBT | Computer Based Training |
| CC | Constant Current |
| CCD | Charge Coupled Device |
| CCITT | International Telegraphy and Telephony Consultative Committee |
| CCTV | Closed Circuit TeleVision |
| CCW | Counter Clock Wise |
| CD | Compact Disk |
| CD-I | Compact Disk - Interactiv |
| CDR | Compact Disk Recordable |
| CDROM | Compact Disk Read Only Memory |
| CDRW | Compact Disk ReWriteable |
| CECL | Cascode Emitter Coupled Logic |
| CEMA | Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association |
| CEMF | Counter ElectroMotive Force |
| CERDIP | CERamic Dual Inline Package |
| CES | Consumer Electronics Show |
| CF | Center Frequency or Cubic Feet |
| CFM | Cubic Feet per Minute |
| CIM | Computer Integrated Manufacturing |
| CISC | Complex Instruction Set Computer |
| CL | Current Loop |
| CMOS | Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor |
| CP/M | Control Program for Microcomputers |
| CPI | Characters Per Inch |
| CPU | Central Processing Unit |
| CRC | Cyclic Redundancy Check |
| CRT | Cathode Ray Tube |
| CS | Control Strobe (logic signal) |
| CSA | Canadian Standards Association |
| CTC | Counter/Timer Circuit |
| CTS | Clear To Send (protocol signal) |
| CV | Constant Voltage |
| CVT | Constant Voltage Transformer |
| CW | ClockWise, Continuous Wave, Carrier Wave (for old-timers) |
| CYMK | Cyan Yellow Magenta blacK |
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| D | |
| D/A | Digital to Analog |
| DAC | Digital to Analog Converter or Data Acquisition and Control |
| DARPA | Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency |
| DAV | Data AValiable or DatA Valid |
| DB | Data Base |
| dB | DeciBel |
| dBA | DeciBel - Adjusted |
| dBK | DeciBel (1 kilowatt ref) |
| DBM | Data Base Management |
| dBm | DeciBel (1 milliwatt ref) |
| dBV | DeciBel (1 volt ref) |
| dBX | DeciBel - above reference |
| DC | Direct Current |
| DCD | Data Carrier Detect (protocol signal) |
| DDS | Direct Digital Synthesis |
| DES | Data Encryption Standard |
| DIAC | Bilateral trigger diode |
| DIL | Dual In Line |
| DIN | Deutsche Industrie Normenausschuss |
| DIP | Dual Inline Package |
| DLC | Dual Layer Capacitor |
| DMA | Direct Memory Access |
| DMM | Digital MultiMeter |
| DOD | Department of Defense |
| DOS | Disk Operating System |
| DOT | Department of Transportation |
| DP | Data Processing |
| DPDT | Double Pole Double Throw |
| DPI | Dots Per Inch |
| DPST | Double Pole Single Throw |
| DRAM | Dynamic Random Access Memory |
| DS | Data Strobe |
| DSO | Digital Storage Oscilloscope |
| DSP | Digital Signal Processing |
| DSR | Data Set Ready |
| DTL | Diode Transistor Logic |
| DTMF | Dual Tone Multi Frequency |
| DTR | Data Terminal Ready |
| DVM | Digital Volt-Meter |
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| E | |
| E2PROM | Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory |
| EAROM | Electrically Alterable Read Only Memory |
| EBCDIC | Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code |
| ECC | Error Checking and Correction |
| ECL | Emitter Coupled Logic |
| EEPROM | Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory |
| EGA | Enhanced Graphics Adapter |
| EHF | Extremely High Frequency |
| EIA | Electronics Industries Association |
| EL | ElectroLuminescent |
| ELF | Extremely Low Frequency |
| EMF | ElectroMotive Force |
| EMI | ElectroMagnetic Interference |
| EMP | ElectroMagnetic Pulse |
| ENIAC | Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator |
| EOT | End Of Transmission |
| EPLD | Electrically Programmable Logic Device |
| EPROM | Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory |
| EQ | EQualizer |
| ESA | European Space Agency |
| ESD | Electrostatic Sensitive Device or ElectroStatic Discharge |
| ESR | Equivalent Series Resistance |
| EV | Electron Volt |
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| F | |
| F | Farad |
| FAA | Federal Aviation Administration |
| FAST | Fairchild Advanced Schottky |
| FAX | Facsimile |
| FCC | Federal Communications Commission |
| FDC | Floppy Disk Controller |
| FDX | Full DupleX |
| FET | Field Effect Transistor |
| FF | Flip Flop |
| FFT | Fast Fourier Transform |
| FIFO | First In First Ou |
| FILO | First In Last Out |
| FM | Frequency Modulation |
| FORTRAN | FORmula TRANslato |
| FP | Floating Point |
| FPGA | Field Programmable Gate Array |
| FPLA | Field Programmable Logic Array |
| FPP | Floating Point Processor |
| FPU | Floating Point Unit |
| FSK | Frequency Shift Keying |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol |
| FUBAR | Fouled Up Beyond Any Repair |
| FVC | Frequency to Voltage Converter |
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| G | |
| GA | Gate Array |
| GAL | Generic Array Logic |
| GCS | Gate Controlled Switch |
| GFCI | Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter |
| GFI | Ground Fault Interrupter |
| GFLOPS | Billions of FLOating Point operations per Second |
| GIGO | Garbage In Garbage Out |
| GND | GrouND |
| GPIB | General Purpose Interface Bus (evolved from HPIB by Hewlett Packard) |
| GPS | Global Positioning System |
| GUI | Graphical User Interface (software) |
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| H | |
| HAL | Hardwired Array Logic |
| HC | High speed CMOS |
| HCT | High speed CMOS with TTL thresholds |
| HD | High Density |
| HDC | Hard Disk Controller |
| HDTV | High Definition TeleVision |
| HDX | Half DupleX |
| HER | High Efficiency Red |
| HET | Heterodyne |
| HF | High Frequency |
| HFS | Hierarchical File System |
| HIC | Hybrid Integrated Circuit |
| HP | Hewlett Packard or Horse Power |
| HPIB | Hewlett Packard Interface Bus |
| HPIL | Hewlett Packard Interface Loop |
| HTL | High Threshold Logic |
| HVDC | High Voltage Direct Current |
| HVPS | High Voltage Power Supply |
| Hz | Hertz (frequency in cycles per second) |
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| I | |
| I2ICE | Integrated Instrumentation and In Circuit Emulation |
| I2R | Current (I) squared x Resistance |
| IA | Instrumentation Amplifier |
| IC | Integrated Circuit |
| ICE | In Circuit Emulation |
| IEEE | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| IF | Intermediate Frequency |
| IGFET | Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor |
| IMHO | In My Humble Opinion |
| IMNHO | In My Not so Humble Opinion |
| I/O | Input/Output |
| IOP | Input/Output Processor |
| IP | Interface Processor or Internet Protocol |
| IR | Current-Resistance or InfraRed |
| IRED | InfraRed Emitting Diode |
| IRLED | InfraRed Light Emitting Diode |
| IRQ | Interrupt ReQuest |
| ISA | Instrument Society of America |
| ISN | Information Systems Network |
| ISO | In Search Of |
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| J | |
| JEDEC | Joint Electron Device Engineering Council |
| JFET | Junction Field Effect Transistor |
| JIS | Japanese Industrial Standard |
| JPL | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| JUG | Joint Users Group |
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| K | |
| k | Kilo (1000 units) |
| kA | Kilo Ampere (1000 A) |
| kbPS | Kilo bits Per Second |
| kEV | Kilo Electron Volts |
| kHz | Kilo Hertz (1000 cycles per second) |
| kVA | Kilo Volt Amperes |
| kW | Kilo Watts |
| kWH | Kilo Watt Hours |
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| L | |
| L | Inductance |
| L2FET | Logic Level Field Effect Transistor |
| LAN | Local Area Network |
| LASCR | Light Activated Silicon Controlled Rectifier |
| LASER | Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation |
| LC | Inductance and Capacitance |
| LCD | Liquid Crystal Display |
| LCM | Least/Lowest Common Multiple |
| LD | Line Driver |
| LED | Light Emitting Diode |
| LF | Low Frequency |
| LIFO | Last In First Out |
| LISP | LISt Processing |
| LLFET | Logic Level Field Effect Transistor |
| LO | Local Oscillator |
| LORAN | LOng RAnge Navigation |
| LP | Low Pass |
| LPC | Linear Predictive Coding |
| LPM | Lines Per Minute |
| LPT | Line PrinTer |
| LSB | Least Significant Bit or Lower SideBand |
| LSD | Least Significant Digit |
| LSI | Large Scale Integration |
| LUT | Look Up Table |
| LW | Long Wave |
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| M | |
| mAH | milliAmpere-Hour |
| MB | MegaBytes |
| Mb | Megabits |
| MBPS | Million Bytes Per Second |
| MbPS | Million bits Per Second |
| MCA | Micro Channel Architecture |
| MCU | Micro Computer Unit |
| MDAC | Multiplying Digital to Analog Converter |
| MECL | Motorola Emitter Coupled Logic |
| MFLOPS | Millions of FLOating Point operations per Second |
| MFM | Modified Frequency Modulation |
| MHz | MegaHertz |
| MIDI | Music Instrument Digital Interface |
| MIL | MILitary |
| MILSPEC | MILitary SPECification |
| MIPS | Millions of Instructions Per Second |
| MMU | Memory Management Unit |
| MO | Master Oscillator |
| MOS | Metal Oxide Semiconductor |
| MOSFET | Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor |
| MOV | Metal Oxide Varistor |
| MPU | Main Processing Unit |
| MR | Magnetic Resonance |
| MSDOS | MicroSoft Disk Operating System |
| MSB | Most Significant Bit |
| MSD | Most Significant Digit |
| MSDS | Material Safety Data Sheet |
| MSI | Medium Scale Integration |
| MTBF | Mean Time Between Failures |
| MTS | Multichannel Television Sound |
| MUF | Maximum Useable Frequency |
| MUX | Multiplexer |
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| N | |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NC | Not Connected or Normally Closed |
| NCO | Numerically Controlled Oscillator |
| NEDA | National Electronics Distributors Association |
| NEG | NEGative |
| NEMA | National Electrical Manufacturers Association |
| nF | NanoFarad |
| NFS | Network File Server |
| NiCad | Nickel Cadmium |
| NiMH | Nickel Metal Hydride |
| NMOS | N-channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor |
| NMR | Nuclear Magnetic Resonance |
| NO | Normally Open |
| NOAA | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
| NORAD | NORth American Defense |
| NPN | Negative Positive Negative |
| NPO | Negative Positive 0 temperature coefficient |
| NPR | Noise Power Ratio |
| NRZ | Non Return to Zero |
| NRZI | Non Return to Zero Invert |
| NSB | National Science Board |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| NSPE | National Society of Professional Engineers |
| NT | Network Terminator |
| NTC | Negative Temperature Coefficient |
| NTSC | National Television Systems Committee |
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| O | |
| OBTW | Oh, By The Way |
| OC | Open Collector |
| OCR | Optical Character Recognition |
| OEM | Original Equipment Manufacturer |
| OO | Object Oriented |
| OOP | Object Oriented Programming |
| OPAMP | OPerational AMPlifier |
| OS | Operating System |
| OSCAR | Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio |
| OSHA | Occupational Safety and Health Administration |
| OTDR | Optical Time Domain Reflectometry |
| OTOH | On The Other Hand |
| OTP | One Time Programmable |
| OVP | Over Voltage Protection |
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| P | |
| PA | Power Amplifier or Public Address |
| PAL | Programmable Array Logic |
| PBX | Private Branch eXchange |
| PC | Personal Computer or Printed Circuit or Program Counter |
| PCB | Printed Circuit Board |
| PCC | Plastic Chip Carrier |
| PCM | Pulse Code Modulation |
| PEC | PhotoElectric Cell |
| PEP | Peak Envelope Power |
| PF | Power Factor |
| PG | Power Gain |
| PGA | Pin Grid Array |
| PIA | Peripheral Interface Adapter |
| PIC | Priority Interrupt Controller or Parallax'es microcontroller name |
| PIV | Peak Inverse Voltage |
| PIXEL | PI(X)cture ELement |
| PLA | Programmable Logic Array |
| PLCC | Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier |
| PLD | Programmable Logic Device |
| PLL | Phase Locked Loop |
| PM | Phase Modulation or Pulse Modulation |
| PNP | Positive Negative Positive |
| POS | Point Of Sale or POSitive |
| POV | Peak Operating Voltage |
| PPI | Pixels Per Inch |
| PPM | Parts Per Million or Pulse Position Modulation |
| PPS | Pulses Per Second |
| PRN | Pseudo Random Noise |
| PROM | Programmable Read Only Memory |
| PRV | Peak Reverse Voltage or Peak Repetitive Voltage |
| PSG | Programmable Sound Generator |
| PSI | Pounds per Square Inch |
| PSK | Phase Shift Keying |
| PTC | Positive Temperature Coefficient |
| PTT | Push To Talk |
| PUT | Programmable Unijunction Transistor |
| PV | PhotoVoltaic |
| PWM | Pulse Width Modulation |
| PWR | PoWeR |
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| Q | |
| QA | Quality Assurance |
| QC | Quality Control |
| QIC | Quarter Inch Cartridge |
| QIP | Quad Inline Package |
| QSM | Quad Surface Mount |
| QWERTY | Standard keyboard layout |
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| R | |
| R | Resistance |
| R&D | Research and Development |
| RAD | Radiation Absorbed Dose |
| RADAR | RAdio Detection And Ranging |
| RAM | Random Access Memory |
| RAS | Row Address Strobe |
| RC | Radio Control or Resistance and Capacitance |
| RCV | ReCeiVe |
| RD | Receive Data or ReaD |
| RDA | Deceive Data |
| RDY | ReaDY |
| REM | Roentgen Equivalent Man |
| REP | Roentgen Equivalent Physical |
| RET | RETurn |
| RF | Radio Frequency |
| RFI | Radio Frequency Interference |
| RGB | Red Green Blue |
| RH | Relative Humidity |
| RHDP | Right Hand Decimal Point |
| RISC | Reduced Instruction Set Computer |
| RLC | Resistance Inductance Capacitance |
| RLG | Ring Laser Gyroscope |
| RMI | Radio Magnetic Interference |
| RMS | Root Mean Square |
| ROM | Read Only Memory |
| RPM | Revolutions Per Minute |
| RPN | Reverse Polish Notation |
| RPS | Revolutions Per Second |
| RS | Reed Solomon |
| RSSI | Received Signal Strength Indication |
| RT | Real Time or Rise Time |
| RTD | Resistance Temperature Detector |
| RTI | Real Time Interrupt |
| RTL | Resistor Transistor Logic |
| RTOS | Real Time Operating System |
| RTS | Request To Send |
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| S | |
| S/H | Sample and Hold |
| S/N | Signal to Noise |
| SAW | Surface Acoustic Wave |
| SBC | Single Board Computer |
| SCA | SubCarrier Adapter |
| SCI | Serial Communication Interface |
| SCL | Serial CLock |
| SCR | Silicon Controlled Rectifier |
| SCS | Silicon Controlled Switch |
| SCSI | Small Computer System Interface |
| SD | Standard Deviation |
| SDI | Strategic Defense Initiative |
| SDRAM | Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory |
| SEM | Scanning Electron Microscope |
| SEMI | Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Institute |
| SFC | polyStyrene Film Capacitor |
| SG | Signal Ground |
| SHF | Super High Frequency |
| SI | System International |
| SIMM | Single Inline Memory Module |
| SINAD | SIgnal-to-Noise-And-Distortion |
| SIO | Serial Input and Output |
| SIPO | Serial In Parallel Out |
| SLC | Single Layer Ceramic |
| SM | Surface Mount |
| SMD | Surface Mount Device |
| SNAFU | Situation Normal, All Fouled Up (other variations on F-word possible) |
| SNR | Signal to Noise Ratio |
| SMT | Surface Mount Technology |
| SO | Serial Output or Small Outline |
| SOIC | Small Outline Integrated Circuit |
| SOJ | Small Outline J-leaded |
| SOLV | SOLenoid Valve |
| SONAR | SOund NAvigation and Ranging |
| SOP | Small Outline Package |
| SP | Signal Processor or Stack Pointer |
| SPDT | Single Pole Double Throw |
| SPI | Serial to Parallel Interface |
| SPICE | Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis |
| SPL | Sound Pressure Level |
| SPST | Single Pole Single Throw |
| SQL | Structured Query Language |
| SR | Shift Register |
| SRAM | Static Random Access Memory |
| SSB | Single SideBand |
| SSI | Small Scale Integration |
| SSIXS | Submarine Satellite Information eXchange System |
| SSR | Solid State Relay |
| SSTV | Slow Scan TeleVision |
| SVGA | Superior Versatile Graphics Adapter (800 x 600 pixels) |
| SW | Short Wave |
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| T | |
| T/H | Track and Hold |
| TC | Temperature Coefficient |
| TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol |
| TD | Tunnel Diode |
| TDD | Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf |
| TDR | Time Domain Reflectometry |
| TEM | Transverse ElectroMagnetic |
| TF | Transfer Function |
| TFD | Thin Film Detector |
| TFEL | Thin Film ElectroLuminescent |
| TFT | Thin Film Transistor |
| THD | Total Harmonic Distortion |
| THz | Terra Hertz |
| TI | Texas Instruments (a company) |
| TIG | Tungsten Inert Gas |
| TM | Transverse Magnetic (wave) |
| TR | Transient Response |
| TRIAC | TRIode AC switch (bilateral SCR) |
| TS | Time Sharing |
| TTL | Transistor Transistor Logic |
| TV | TeleVision |
| TWT | Traveling Wave Tube |
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| U | |
| UART | Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter |
| _F | micro Farad |
| UHF | Ultra High Frequency |
| UHV | Ultra High Vacuum |
| UJT | UniJunction Transistor |
| UL | Underwriters Laboratories |
| ULSI | Ultra Large Scale Integration |
| UPC | Universal Product Code |
| UPS | Uninterruptible Power Supply |
| USART | Universal Synchronous/Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter |
| USB | Universal Serial Bus or Upper SideBand |
| UTC | Universal Time Code |
| UV | UltraViolet |
| UVA | UltraViolet Alpha |
| UVB | UltraViolet Beta |
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| V | |
| V | Volt |
| VA | Volt Ampere |
| VAC | Volts Alternating Current |
| VAR | VARiable or Volt Amperes Reactive |
| VARICAP | VARIable CAPacitance diode |
| VCC | Supply Voltage |
| VCD | Variable Capacitance Diode |
| VCO | Voltage Controlled Oscillator |
| VCR | Video Cassette Recorder |
| VDC | Volts Direct Current |
| VDD | Supply Voltage |
| VEE | Supply Voltage |
| VF | Vacuum Fluorescent |
| VFC | Voltage to Frequency Converter |
| VFO | Variable Frequency Oscillator |
| VGA | Versatile Graphics Adapter (640 x 480 pixels) |
| VHF | Very High Frequency |
| VLF | Very Low Frequency |
| VLSI | Very Large Scale Integration |
| VLT | Video Look up Table |
| VOL | VOLume |
| VOM | Volt OhmMeter |
| VOX | Voice Operated transmit |
| VR | Voltage Regulator or Virtual Reality |
| VRAM | Video Random Access Memory |
| VS | Vertical Sync |
| VSS | Supply Voltage |
| VT | Virtual Terminal |
| VTM | Voltage Tunable Magnetron |
| VTO | Voltage Tuned Oscillator |
| VTVM | Vacuum Tube Volt Meter |
| VXO | Variable crystal Oscillator |
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| W | |
| WACK | Wait before ACKnowledge |
| WDT | Watch Dog Timer |
| WH | Watt Hour |
| WHR | Watt HouR |
| WP | Word Processor |
| WPM | Words Per Minute |
| WR | WRite |
| WV | Working Voltage |
| WVDC | Working Volts DC |
| Ww | Wire Wound or Wire Wrap |
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| X | |
| XGA | eXtended Graphics Adapter |
| XMT | TransMiT |
| XOFF | Transmit OFF |
| XON | Transmit ON |
| XTAL | CrysTAL |
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| Y | |
| YAG | Yttrium Aluminum Garnet |
| YIG | Yttrium Iron Garnet |
| Back to Top | |
| Z | |
| ZD | Zero Defects |
| ZDT | Zero Defect Tolerance |
| ZIF | Zero Insertion Force |
| ZIP | Zigzag Inline Package |
Thanks to W. Lindsey for additions 2/20/2006
Webmaster: Kirt Blattenberger, BSEE, UVM 1989